Days for Girls Columbia MO Team

Attention all sewers in the Mid- Missouri area! If you are looking for a new project to keep you busy on the days it's too hot to go outside, or your stash of flannel or cotton is taking up too much space in your sewing room!

We have a project for you! Help girls manage their monthly cycles by sewing washable sanitary pads.

These pads have been proven to last at least 3 years! For more information, go to Days for Girls.org then follow us or message us to get involved in this area!

GIRLS.ORG

Attention Sewers!
The Days for Girls ColumbiaMo's Team is in the process of being Gold Shield Certified.

This requires those who sew on any component of the Days for Girls Kit to attend a training over zoom with a Certified Sewing Specialist.

The reason for this is quality! These kits are made globally and are distributed worldwide, with the expectation that the components will last at least 3 years!

The Days for Girls Organization has set these standards and to be a certified registered group we must follow their guidelines.

With that said, if anyone wants to sew with the Days for Girls ColumbiaMo's Team, they must take the training.

Simply let us know and we can arrange a Zoom for you with a specialist who will walk you through the process.

Thanks for your commitment and passion for this project.

Happy Sewing, Marilyn

Happy New Year Sewers and Willing Working Hands!😊

This coming weekend is supposed to be the first Sewing Session for 2024 of The Days for Girls ColumbiaMo's Team.

However, we will not meet this month! We are hoping to invite you to a Sewing Certification Session on Zoom soon!

Those interested in learning how to make the sustainable sanitary kits and be a certified sewer should be a part of the zoom.

Look for the link if you would like to join the session. Remember some women get materials from our group and sew at home, instead of getting out in the weather for a group sewing session.

If you don't sew, but want to wash, iron, cut, collect or count fabric or other things needed for the kits; you can still be a part of the group!

If you have questions, call 231-215-6262. Hope to connect with you soon.

Remember Monday, January 15, 2024 is Dr. Kings Holiday and he was all about Freedom! Think of the girls who can't be free to live, work or play because they can't manage their menstrual cycles! Then consider how important making washable sanitary pads are for those who live in underdeveloped nations or who live in poverty, right here in the United States and ask yourself, "What can I do to help?"

Happy Kings Holiday!
Let Freedom Ring❤️

It's Time to Sew, Renew and Reconnect!

I hope to see you all Saturday, December 9, 2023
at 10 am at St. Luke United Methodist Church 204 Ash in Columbia. Bring a friend and ideas about the upcoming year and our meeting dates, places and times! In 2024, I hope we can do more to help girls manage their menstrual cycles and bring awareness to period poverty!

See you Saturday and if not Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

If you have questions, call 231-215-6262! Follow us on Facebook and Like Us! Then invite a friend and share the dilemma of Period Poverty with young women you know!

Stay well and keep sewing! Thanks, Marilyn

Attention Participants and Possible Participants!
The Saturday Morning Session of the ColumbiaMo's Days for Girls Team is being cancelled for November 11, 2023! Sorry, see you next month!

Come One
Come All!

It's a Sewing Saturday for the Days for Girls ColumbiaMo's Team.

Bring your serger, scissors and sewing machine to St.
Luke United Methodist Church October 14th at 10 am.

The church is located at 204 W. Ash at the corner of Providence.

Any seasoned seamstress, novice or none sewer is welcome.

Bring a pr***en or teen girl and teach them about sustainable feminine hygiene products and period poverty!

The session starts at 10 and ends at 12. Everyone is welcome!

Looking forward to seeing you! Call 231-215-6262 with questions or concerns.

The summer has been busy, very hot and we hope you've had fun!

Even though our team has been on a sewing sabbatical, Marilyn Calbert, Program Facilitator has continued to work.

Saturday, July 29th she met with Jenifer Pilz Director MU Africa Hub, which is The Africa Hub and Pan African Organization for Health Education and Research.

POHER collaborated on the Summer Research program with the MU Medical School to bring the fellows to the University for 8 weeks.

This year Lindiwe Chilambe and Pharidah Sundi were the researchers from Zambia chosen to participate in the project.

On their last day in Columbia, they stopped by St. Luke United Methodist Church, met Marilyn, learned about Days for Girls and period poverty. In turn, Marilyn learned about the struggles females face in Zambia as they try to manage their menstrual cycles.

After listening to their stories, she gifted them with as many kits as they could fit into their luggage. Although they could only fit 5 kits each, in the grand scheme of things, that's 10 females who will be able to live their lives with dignity each month because they will be equipped with washable sustainable feminine hygiene products!

Good work sewers, sergers, ironers, threaders, cutters, folders, counters, packers, washers and donators! This project wouldn't be possible without each of you!

See you all with a friend Saturday, September 10th, at 10:00 am at St Luke United Methodist Church!

Attention All Members and Interested Participants of the Days for Girls ColumbiaMo's Team!!!

We're deserving of a summer break!

We've been meeting and/or working on this project since 2018, nonstop!!

Even in the pandemic, women sewed masks and distributed in drive through parking locations.

We will not meet again until the second Saturday in September, which will be the 10th at 10 o'clock !

In the meantime, if you can't put down the fabric or sewing machine, continue at home and bring what you have completed to St. Luke United Methodist Church in Columbia!

While we're away from one another, think of the number of girls we've helped, but don't forget those we haven't reached!

See you in September!

The pictures in this post were taken over a period of time at the Second Saturday Sewing Session held at St. Luke United Methodist Church , as a part of the global initiative to make sure girls have feminine hygiene protection so they can stay in school!!

The Days for Girls ColumbiaMo's Team started as a sustainability project while three young women participated in the Deaton Scholars Program at the University of Missouri in 2018!

The kits have been shipped or taken to those in need in Africa, India, and yes America! Recently, a huge donation was taken to the distribution center in Liberty, Missouri and is slated for travel to Venezuela!

We want to thank everyone who has donated time, talents and resources to make this service project possible!

Often we hear, " It takes a village to raise a child," well it has taken a diverse community of caring people to make sure girls are protected monthly and can have opportunities to live normal productive lives, free from worry about protection during their cycles!

Enjoy the photos and think about how you can help! Feel free to share this post with family and friends! Thanks❤️!

Hurry.... It's the Final Saturday Sewing Session of the year!!

It's time to help a few of Missouri's young ladies learn what helping others, being blessed and period poverty is all about!

Bring a pre-teen or a teen girl to St. Luke United Methodist Church located at 204 E. Ash near the corner of Providence.

Doors open at 9:00! It's a Christmas Brunch Potluck!
Sewers and Non-Sewers Welcome.

Don't forget your sewing machines and sergers! We need to finish the reusable sanitary kits to give away during the holiday season!

Happy Holidays...See You Saturday December 10, 2022!

Another second Saturday Sewing Session for the Days for Girls ColumbiaMo Team has come and gone, and we are thankful.

We are thankful to the women who joined us from Mexico, Missouri.

We are thankful for fabric that was donated.

We are thankful for the seven women who spent their morning serging, sewing, packaging, folding and trying to grapple with living a life without sanitary pads!

Finally, we are very grateful for the energy and strength of the two girls who moved large boxes full of supplies, folded flannel liners, and counted.

We have 124 complete sanitary pad kits complete and ready to go. Where they will end up, we don't know! All that matters is that they end up in the hands of a female who can't afford or doesn't have access to pads regularly.

Our final meeting for 2022 will take place Saturday, December 10th at 9:30!

Join us and bring a girl between the ages of 10 and 17! They need to learn first hand how spending a few hours once a month can help another girl somewhere else in the world, manage her menstrual cycles so she can stay in school!

Happy Thanksgiving, we are grateful that you read this post and now ask you to share this post!

It's November in America and most people are thinking of Thanksgiving and things they are grateful for!

This coming Saturday is November 12th! A sewing session for the ColumbiaMo Days for Girls Team. We will meet with sewing machines, sergers, scissors and travel size soap. At 10 a.m, we will iron fabric, cut patterns, roll panties and fold washcloths. All while saying thanks.

Thanks to our parents who could provide sanitary products for us when we were young.

Thanks to the many people who have donated and continually contribute fabric, time, talents and even money to make sure girls in America and around the globe don't experience "Period Poverty."

To learn more about Period Poverty and how you can help decrease it. Google it, read, then join us in our efforts to help end it while continuing to give thanks!

When the doors open at St. Luke United Methodist Church this Saturday, we hope to see you with a friend to help pack kits to take to Liberty, Missouri for distribution before Thanksgiving!

It's October! Take a drive through any community in America and you will see images of fright!

Yes, it's time to push pass our fears and scare away evil spirits!

But those of us who are females know one type of fear that has nothing to do with Halloween or tricks!

It's the fear of not having what you need to manage your monthly menstrual cycle!

Imagine going to the restroom and you've started your cycle and you don't have anything to use! Not because you're out, but because you can't afford it, you're homeless or you live in a part of the country or world where you can't access it!

Now that's SCARY! Want to help take this fear and anxiety out of the lives of females every where?

Join the Columbiamo Days for Girls Team in making sustainable feminine hygiene products.

We meet monthly every second Saturday at St. Luke United Methodist Church at 204 E. Ash Street in Columbia, Missouri at 10am.

If you don't sew, you can donate fabric, wash cloths, travel size soap or girls underwear sizes 12 to 16! You can come unwrap soap, pack kits, iron, cut fabric and ease anxiety!

Don't be afraid to contribute or come to a sewing event because of Covid! Mask, hand sanitizer and social distancing will be available!

If you are afraid to drive, call Marilyn. She will ease your anxiety by picking up your donation!

So this year, when you're buying the candy for the treaters, toss some flannel, or polyurethane into the cart and help scare away period fear! And if you're thinking about the parts of a costume, don't forget personal hygiene protection! Menstrual periods don't take a break for Halloween!

Thanks! Happy Halloween & Fearless Periods!!!

I've heard all of life, "You never know where your blessings might come from!" This is so very true.

This morning, my phone rang, and on the other end was Konna Shouse from Ballard, Missouri. I didn't know her, but a short while later, she was walking through the doors of Lutheran Family and Children's Services in Columbia with a box of flannel, a small piece of polyurethane, some patterns with written instructions and some girls underwear!

She explained that she once sewed feminine hygiene products that were shipped worldwide, and now has decided to donate to the Days for Girls ColumbiaMo Team!

After thanking her, I captured this picture! Please join me in thanking her, and for helping us help girls manage their monthly cycles!

Saturday, September 10th was a busy day for those who attended the monthly sewing session of the Days for Girls ColumbiaMo Team.

Sergers, sewing machines and scissors were out! A woman who hadn't joined us in a sewing session since Covid closed us in 2020 returned . She doesn't sew, but she cuts, opens soaps, folds and counts well! It was so exciting to see her!

She was excited to meet new women and to see all the kits that have been completed!

October will be an exciting time full of activity as we will be joined by a group of women from Mexico, Missouri to sew and prepare completed kits to take to the regional distribution center in Liberty Missouri where they will be shipped around the globe!

If you have fabric to donate, or you want to learn more about this project, join us at 10 a.m. at St. Luke United Methodist Church located at 204 E. Ash!

It's a brunch potluck! We will have food, fellowship and fun as we help girls manage their cycles one stitch at a time!

See you October 8th!

It's Back To School Time!

Globally girls are returning to the classroom from a seasonal break or Covid!

Do they really have what the need? Will they be ready to manage their periods in the classroom?

In developed nations, this might not be an issue! However for poverty stricken, rural and remote places, this is a Big problem!

It's so BIG, that girls are forced to use things most people would find appalling!

Here's what women in and around Columbia, Missouri are doing to help.

We make reusable, washable and sustainable sanitary pads and shields. They have been researched, tested and proven to last three years!

Here's how you can help! If you sew, bring your machine and join us on the second Saturday of each month at St. Luke United Methodist Church. Located at 204 E. Ash in Columbia. We start sewing at 10 and end at Noon! The next date is September 10th!

If you don't sew and want to help, drop off 100% brightly colored fabric, or darkly printed flannel or polyurethane waterproof lining, also known as PUL! We also need colored wash cloths, teen size panties and travel bars of soap!

If you can't or choose not to join us, call Marilyn and she will meet you at the church to pick up your contribution. Her number is 231-215-6262!

We thank you on behalf of the girls you will help graduate from high school!

Please share this post!

Blessings and good health!

It's Back to School Time!

You've bought pencils, paper, computers and books, but did you think about feminine hygiene products.

Many homeless girls, and girls in war stricken or under-developed or rural area or nations can't go to school. Not because they don't want to. Simply because they don't have the necessary items to manage their monthly cycles. These pads are washable and last 3years!

Here's how you can help! Go into your sewing stash or purchase fabric and drop it off or send it to 204 E. Ash Columbia, MO. Got questions? Call Marilyn at 231-215-6262!

It will be used as a part of the Columbiamo Days for Girls Team project. We make washable reusable feminine hygiene pads and carry bags for girls worldwide.

We sew again Saturday, September 10th at 10 am. Join us and drop off your fabric.

We need:
1. 100% brightly colored fabric.
2. 100% darkly colored flannel.
3. Polyurethane waterproof liner fabric.

No animals,people, trademarked, holiday, sayings, characters, or religious symbols.

Choose paisley, florals, geometrics, plaids or plain fabric, please!

You can have your donation picked up or someone will meet you at the church or a location most convenient for you!

To learn more about the project worldwide visit Days for Girls on the web.

It's the end of July! The summer has been sweltering hot and filled with community events! However, The ColumbiaMo Days for Girls Team has been busy reorganizing and planning!

We returned to St. Luke United Methodist Church for Second Saturday Sewing Sessions!
We're expanding into Mexico, Missouri and with that expansion came a new Team Lead. Her name is Susan Paden! Join us in welcoming the women from Mexico! A group of women in Mexico will make drawstring bags and flannel liners to add to the kits created in Columbia.

Girls from the Jesus Christ Church of The Latter Day Saints will be working on sizing and otherr task, while St. Luke United Methodist Church continues to collect soap.

We couldn't do this without the annual contribution of hundreds of washcloths from Mt. Celestial Baptist Church!

We had two new ladies join us in July and they each left the meeting with things to sew at home.

There is always a need for 100 percent vividly colored cotton, dark colored flannel, polyurethane and YOU!

JOIN US AUGUST 13TH
from
10:00-12:00 noon
It's a light potluck!

See you soon!
Bring a friend, even if neither of you sew!
Social distancing safety practiced! Mask, table spacing and hand sanitizer available!

Days for Girls ColumbiaMo is returning to the meeting place of its origin!

Starting the Second Saturday in July, all members and nonmembers or any woman who wants to help make washable, sustainable feminine hygiene products, please Join us!

We will meet at 10:00 am Saturday, July 9, 2022 with sewing machines, surgers, scissors and friends!

Don't worry, if you don't sew! We need people to cut tags, thread bags, unwrap bar soap and assemble kits!

Our work will end at 12 Noon! There will be healthy snacks and bottles of cold water! Bring a pre-teen, teen, young adult, adult or some seasoned sewing seniors!

See you at St. Luke United Methodist Church 206 Ash near the corner of Providence! Any questions call Marilyn at 231-215-6262!

Mask are available, sanitizer will be on hand and there's space to spread out. If you'd like, we will put a table or two on the lawn under a tree! We take Covid precautions seriously. Just like we do the need for feminine hygiene products and the needs of those who don't have the means to manage their monthly cycles!

Thanks for coming in advance! ❤️

We currently sew at 32 Clearview Drive at 10:00 every 2nd Saturday
In
Columbia, Missouri
Join Us! We would love to meet you at Wendy's Home!

Last Saturday, Wendy Remus and Marilyn Calbert met at Wendy's home to discuss the Days for Girls ColumbiaMo Team and it's future!

We are pleased to announce that we have started meeting again in person to sew! Every month at 10:00 a.m. on the 2nd Saturday.

Bring your surgers, sewing machines, scissors, snacks and smiles! The address is 32 Clearview Drive Columbia, Missouri ! New Seamstress or want to be seamstress are encouraged to attend.

See you in June!

Days for Girls Columbia MO Team updated their address.

It's Time To Give Thanks!

The Columbiamo Days for Girls Team is grateful for the many people who have donated soap, flannel, girls under garments, cotton fabric, polyurethane fabric, time, talents and money!

We're especially appreciative to the leadership and members of St. Luke United Methodist Church, Mt.Celestial Baptist Church, and The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints- Highland Park, Columbia!

Covid slowed us down, but with your contributions and support, we have 150 kits completed and ready to be given to girls who lack supplies needed to manage their monthly cycles!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Days for Girls Columbia MO Team Send a message to learn more.

Days for Girls Columbia MO Team updated their info in the about section.

The Days for Girls Columbia MO Team is relocating and reorganizing! We're switching locations and bringing the project to a place where there are more girls to sew!

This will teach them about helping others, sewing, the global community and how blessed they are because they have what they need to manage their monthlies! It was also help build positive diverse relationships within Columbia !

Donations of dark colored wash cloths, travel bars of soap, girls panties sizes 12-16, polyurethane fabric for liners, 100 percent darkly colored flannel, and 100 percent vibrantly patterned colored cotton fabric. No symbols, trademarks, animals, weapons, people or words. Brightly colored florals, paisley, and geometric patterns are greatly appreciated!

Sewing sessions will start October 20 at 7:00 pm at The Church of Jesus Christ Latter- Day Saints 4708 Highland Parks Columbia, MO!

Mask required! For more information about the upcoming sewing event, call Wendy at 573-881-4950.

For more information about the Days for Girls project, call Marilyn at 231-215-6262.

We look forward to hearing from you and meeting you at one of the sewing sessions!

The Sewing of the Sustainable Feminine Hygiene Pads resumed as a service project during the all girls camp of The Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints this summer!

Now it's time for former sewers, new sewers and none sewing women who want to help girls manage their monthly cycles without having to search for things to use because they don't have disposable supplies like others do, to come together and help!

If you didn't know, daily females around the globe take desperate measures to live a normal life, do everyday things like go to school, work and simply be in the presence of others while they have their monthly cycles!

This project takes two hours of your time on a Saturday morning. It will resume, Covid permitting, at St. Luke Church in located at 204 E. Ash near the corner of Providence September 11, 2021. Doors open at 9:30, we start sewing at 10:00!

Mask will be available!! Sanitizer will be on deck! Tables will be spaced with only workers at the ends to make sure we are 6 feet apart! Sign in sheets for contact tracking. If the sun is shining, parts of the project that don't require electricity will be done outside! If you like, bring your vaccine card to show at the door!

Donations of waterproof polyurethane fabric and 5'8 of an inch darkly colored grosgrain ribbon are desperately needed!

For more information call, Marilyn at 573-476-4974

It's time to have Faith, be Safe and Selflessly Sew to help Girls Manage Their Cycles and Stay in School!

Join other people who sew and who want to see girls remain in school! Saturday, July 10, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. till 12:00 noon at St. Luke United Methodist Church near the corner of Ash and Providence.

Bring washed colored cotton, dark patterned flannel and any polyurethane fabric you can find with your scissors, servers and sewing machines.

Still taking precautions. Temperatures will be checked. Hand sanitizer is on deck! We will space ourselves, and even get the mask out! If you haven't had your shot and want to help a lot, we can put tables outside under the tree and we'll keep you busy, you will see!

Can't wait to meet and greet you. Call with questions 231-215-6262! Thanks for caring, Marilyn

Are you ready to start gathering safely and sewing monthly to help girls manage their monthly cycles?

The Days for Girls Columbia Mo Team has remained home for over a year! Some kept sewing! Thanks❤️ Others kept collecting supplies! Thank you!❤️❤️ Still others donated! We couldn't do what we do without you, once again you are needed and appreciated!!❤️❤️❤️

We have washed fabric ready to sew and be ironed. Bags to stuff!

Tables will be spaced. Mask will be available!! The doors of St. Luke United Methodist Church will be open.

If you're interested, reply to this post or in box me.

We're still watching the Covid rates like a Hawk, but we are praying and believing in devine protection.

Look for a coming Saturday date in June! Nice weather will allow us to cut fabric, string and stuff bags and count completed kits outside on the lawn!

If you have your shot record, bring it! Temperature checks and contact tracing sign in sheets, will happen! Hand sanitizer will be available!

Pre-packaged individual snacks will be served!

Suggest a Saturday and a time! We are planning and want to create this group to fit the majority! Give suggestions, please!

Okay Columbia Sewers, the future of this group will depend on you! If you want the group to remain in Columbia, come out! Let us know what you think!

As always we appreciate you, and the girls who will receive the kits thank you even more!

The Fall is upon us! Covid-19 is still here! And girls still have periods and a need for reusable protection!

Many thanks to those who have donated fabric, supplies and are sewing !

Women are sewing in place! This means they are sewing at home!

If you are sewing at home, we need to know what and how many you have completed!

If you want to sew, contact me through this email or call me at 231-215-6262!

Donations of colored wash cloths, darkly printed 100 percent cotton and flannel are needed. In addition travel size bar soap and girls colored underwear sizes 10-16. We cannot use fabric or underwear with faces, animals, religious symbols, holiday or national symbols or animals!
We also need PUL, the waterproof fabric used for making baby diapers!

We thank you so much for thinking of girls who can't afford sanitary protection!

We wish you good health, prosperity and happiness from this day forward!

From all of us at the Days for Girls Columbia Mo Team!

Our main focus is to serve those in need through sewing!

We recently received a request for at least 100 Face Mask for patrons of St. Francis House, a homeless shelter in Columbia, Missouri!

Individuals receiving the mask are some of the most vulnerable.
It is essential that they have protective covering!

Donations of disposable and cloth mask will be accepted at St. Francis House. The address is 901 Rangeline Street. Call the shelter for best times to contribute. The number is 573-875-4913!

Anyone wishing to sew mask and need material, contact Marilyn at 231-215-6262. Thanks for your willingness to assist us in slowing the spread of Covid-19 and saving lives! 😷