The United Methodist Women of Epworth United Methodist Church in Durham, North Carolina, joined Days for Girls, an international project that believes that the poverty cycle can be broken when girls stay in school. It is estimated that a girl can miss up to two months of school a year due to a lack of quality sustainable feminine hygiene supplies. Girls who stay in school are less likely to marry early or to die in childbirth; they are more likely to train or educate their families. Every girl in the world deserves an education, safety and dignity. Days for Girls furthers this goal by helping girls who would otherwise go without access to quality sustainable feminine hygiene and awareness. What if a girl, without access to sanitary supplies, would not go to school or work, and would go days without leaving the house?

The mission of this local United Methodist Women project is to create a more dignified, free and educated world through access to feminine hygiene products. We meet every two weeks to sew kits that contain high-quality shields that are effective and useful for girls. Every washable feminine hygiene kit gives back up to six months of dignified living in three years of use based on five lost school days a month. That is 180 days of education, health safety and dignity. These kits change a girl’s life in so many ways. Time goes into making every kit and quality matters! If they are not made well, they will not work well nor last. When completed in February 2016, we will have at least 50 kits for distribution in the rural mountain villages of Delatte, Fond Doux and Platon Haiti. This adds up to life-changing days for girls and women