We are excited to share that a recent Boys and Girls Country (BGC) service project has been awarded the Youth in Philanthropy First Honorable Mention and a $1,000 prize from the Greater Houston Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals Diversity and Outreach Committee!
Led by Jayna Harris, a BGC teaching parent, about 30 girls participated in a project with Days for Girls International. This organization makes reusable, sustainable feminine hygiene kits and provides them to girls who would otherwise miss school during their monthly cycles. Living in a home which emphasizes the importance of education, our girls were inspired to help and ensure that girls around the world would not miss school because of a lack of monthly hygiene supplies. This project gave our girls a sense of pride and accomplishment that they were able to help less fortunate children on the other side of the world. Intended to be a one-time service project, it has become an ongoing effort involving more and more girls on the BGC campus.
Goals of the project:
—To educate the young ladies in our care about the challenges other girls around the world go through every month.
—To help our girls recognize the value of education and opportunities.
—To help provide a sustainable, reusable solution for those in need of feminine hygiene kits around the world.
—To reintroduce the lost craft of sewing to the next generation of girls.
—To give back 50,000 school days to girls around the world through the use of the kits.
Our teenage girls were able to learn simple techniques to create the drawstring bags for the kits, and our younger girls put the kits together. We always encourage our BGC kids to “be the change”, and it fills our hearts with so much love to see the fruits of their labor.
We are very thankful for Board Director Chuck Scianna and his family who awarded funds for the past two years for service projects to be performed by our kids. The only stipulation put on the projects was that they had to be conceived, written and performed by the children with minimal adult input. In order to make this a learning process for the kids, they were required to submit a proposal, including a timeline and a budget. These projects encouraged our kids to make a difference in the world and taught them real-life skills.
“It has been amazing to see our young girls on campus sit down to learn to sew at a machine. They beamed with pride when they have completed a kit for another girl in need,” said Harris.
“I’m so proud of these young ladies who so willingly gave their time in order to make a difference in our world and to bring a brighter future to girls their own age in Uganda. Thank you all so very much!” commented Jean Kreutzer, head of the local Days for Girls Chapter.
