Girls Only Project

My friend Lara over at The Farmer's Wife Tells All is a mom of two lovelies and is expecting another from Uganda pretty much any day now.  She has a huge heart for the widowed and orphaned around the world and she recently came up with an awesome project to help young orphaned girls with something most of us ladies may take for granted.

In much of the developing world disposable sanitary products for menustration are not practical or just not available.  Some girls even use trash during their periods, or they miss school all together because they have nothing to use.  Cloth pads are a desparate need for these young women.  This is what Lara's For Girls Only Project is all about.  She is trying to get cloth pads (in addition to bras, panties, and some other essentials) into orphanges and remand centers in Uganda.  Lara is recruiting her friends, family, anyone, and everyone to make pads and/or make donations to put kits together for the young women.  The plan is to put 5 cloth pads, 3 pair of panties, and one bra in each kit.  You can read more about Lara's project here.

Well, when she put the call out for help, I fired up the ol' Singer.  Using fabric I had in my stash (fleece and jersey knit for the padding and 100% cotton for the lining) I whipped up 20 pads.  Also using fabric scraps I sewed up 4 zipper pouches (for girls to keep their cloth pads in).  At Target I found cotton panties on sale (8 pair for $8) and some bras on clearance ($3.50-3.98).  All told, I spent $36 to make 4 kits (panties: $12, bras: $16, zippers for pouches: $8).  Doing the math, that's only $9 per kit (making drawstring pouches would make it even less expensive).  Not really a whole a lot for a young girl's comfort and hygiene.  Four kits may not sound like a lot, but it will help.  Lara's friends have stepped up and many more supplies have been donated to make the kits for this incredible project.

Here's the bounty I am donating....

Read all about this project, her adoption journey, and more on Lara's blog.