DAYS FOR GIRLS SW BOISE
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A 2018 trip with Dr. Vincent Kituku to visit the Caring Hearts and Hands of Hope girls school he founded in Kenya helped propel several of us to start our Days for Girls team. Since then, our team has grown from 4 people to over 80!
In many countries, girls miss a week a month of school due to lack of menstrual products. We
initially sent Kits to Caring Hearts to help keep girls in school. Now our team raises money to purchase Kits from business “Enterprises” in Kenya that make Days for Girls Kits as a business. This way we are helping keep girls in school and supporting a business, a win-win!
When covid hit, all shipments of DfG (Days for Girls) Kits stopped. Our team segued to making masks and continued to make all the components for a DfG Kit. At this time we also became familiar with the term “period poverty”, which is the lack of access to menstrual products. Period Poverty was something we thought existed only in third world countries. Not true! This exists right here in our own community. We began working with two local schools and discovered that girls had to visit the school nurse if she started her period and did not have period products. It was then that we started using our fundraising to purchase menstrual supplies and donate to these two schools.
In 2022, with a large donation of menstrual products and a nudge from a speech given during a DfG convention, we started pilot projects to provide FREE menstrual products IN girls’ bathrooms in 5 schools in Canyon County. As we met with schools we broadened our reach with their recommendations for the program in other schools, and at the end of the 2022-2023 school year we were in 13 schools and 47 bathrooms, providing menstrual products to girls IN the bathroom, where they need them. Our team is already lining up schools to participate in this program for the 2023-2024 school year; here in our valley and across the State.
Our advocacy outreach has broadened to include working with the Agency for New Americans in Boise to provide DfG Kits to girls and women in our community. Our team also held a drive to collect used sewing machines for these women to utilize their sewing skills.
After a donation of disposable menstrual products to the Boise State University Food Pantry, we met with their team and discovered that food insecurity has become a major concern and student usage of the program had tripled from the prior year. And we realized that if there is food insecurity, there is also menstrual inequity and insecurity. We then donated “hybrid” DfG Kits (without the panties) and menstrual cups as well as disposable menstrual products. Since that first visit we have expanded our donations to NNU, the College of Idaho, ICOM, ISU Meridian, Lewis-Clark State College and the University of Idaho.
Our SW Boise Chapter continues to advocate for the menstrual health of ALL girls and women – whether they are in Kenya or Ukraine or Turkey or India or Haiti or South America or right here where we live. Check out our blog posts for details on our advocacy efforts. Please consider donating your time, talent or treasure to our team.
Email us at: swboiseid@daysforgirls.org for additional information on how you can help!
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IDAHO PERIOD PROJECT
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The Idaho Period Project Team: Avrey Hendrix: President, Brooke Nelson: Vice President & Treasurer, Haley Davis: Web & Marketing Designer, Jana Hill: Community Champion, Shanelle Bice: Student Ambassador Advocate & Editor.
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Idaho Period Project's mission is to give easy access to period supplies to those that menstruate. Advocating for half of the human population, we have been a non profit since May 2022. Idaho Period Project was founded by Avrey Hendrix, born and raised in Alberta, Canada who now lives in Rigby, ID with her 4 kids and husband, Cody Hendrix. Advocating for the ONE has always been a priority for Avrey, and her team continues to do the same.
Why we do this divine and important work… Toilet paper, paper towels, and soap are all basic needs for humans. This basic need is in the bathroom for those that need it to take freely. It is also part of a school and business budget. For as long as we have known it to be this way, period supplies such as tampons and pads are also a basic need, next to toilet paper, paper towels, and soap. The main difference between period supplies and the others is that tampons and pads sit in counsellor’s, nurse’s, or sometimes principal’s offices to be asked for, or cost a quarter to be bought. To say it out loud, to cover 3 basic needs and not 1 of the others does not make sense. Period supplies are not part of budgets or out in the open in bathrooms for those that need it to take freely. We here at Idaho Period Project have chosen the better way for all girls and women and continue to advocate for period supplies to be put in the bathrooms at no cost to those that need them. We hope to create a 21st century bathroom.
We advocate specifically for free and easily accessible period products within Idaho K-12 public and charter school bathrooms.
We partner with other organizations, Days for Girls and the Period Positive Workplace to ensure period supplies are accessible to those that need it, both those experiencing period poverty and those that simply need it when their period arrives.
Join us in this change “one cycle at a time”.
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We are always looking for committed and driven people to join our team. If this is something that interests you, reach out to us at hello@idahoperiodproject.org.