5 Reasons Why YOU are Our Valentine

Dear Valentine,

You're simply easy to love.

1. You care and serve selflessly.

2. You are fun and fearlessly take on an issue few are brave enough to talk about. You say it loud and proud, "Menstruation happens. Girls are suffering. Now let's do something about it!" And that's cool, period.

3. You use your time and talents to lift the lives of others time and time again. It's an honor to serve "at your side." Far or near, we are a Days for Girls family with a common purpose.

4. Basically it comes down to this, you rock and what you do results in this:

Dr. Julie P, Medical Director at Hope without Borders sent these messages from the girls we care so much about: Hope Without Borders has been able to distribute hundreds of Days for Girls "hygiene" packs to women and school girls in Kenya, Tanzania and Nepal. We recently received letters from some school girls in Kenya who had received a pack in March 2014:

:....I am full of joy and happiness for the gift you have helped me with. I thank you very much for the sanitary towels that you donated several months ago. It has really changed our lives so much and I am proud that now I can't miss to go to school even 1 single day." Aiiono

"...now that you have helped us with the sanitary towels we can now go to school everyday and we are thankful...." Yusra

"...thank you for giving me the sanitary towels. If you would not give me the sanitary towels I could not have come to school because my mother could not afford the money to buy for me always." Ndungwa

"...I give thanks to you because you helped me with your sanitary towels, you helped so many girls that their parents do not have work or money." Mercy

5. Because you change the world with your passion. Passion like this shared by Ann Lewis, co-director of Days for Girls Utah, in two posts in her blog:

Ann writes:

Meet Lily Chappell, adorable daughter of Christine Chappell, a dear friend from Heber City who never fails to bring me to tears every time she drops by. Christine never really just “drops by” she DELIVERS. I have just received her Valentine’s Day Delivery: TWO THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED SHIELDS and 230 bags! And her mother, Claire Hess brought a large box filled with cut PUL and shield pieces.

Valentine’s Day is a day for expressing love. To our families and spouses, to our friends, and to young ladies across the world who we love more and more with every passing day and with every kit we make! My heart has grown tremendously in the last 2 years since I learned about Days for Girls. Sometimes I can hardly contain the feelings I have.

Here is a Valentine’s card my son Aaron gave me in 2001 when he was 5 years old. It’s been hanging in my office these 14 years where I see it every day. I loved it then, and I love it even more now, especially after a day like today when I went to find all the fabric I need. Little did that 5 -year-old boy know just how important fabric would be to me and to others. The fabric I purchased today will change lives.

Every now and again we hit a really good fabric sale. It happened today at JoAnn Fabric’s. 60% off flannel plus an additional 20% off at the register. As fast as donations come in to Days for Girls Utah chapters, we buy fabric. Today I filled 4 shopping carts full. It made my heart sing. Within a few months, all of this fabric will be sewn into feminine hygiene kits that will be sent to girls desperate to stay in school every day of the month.

It’s fun to watch the faces of customers at the cutting table when I buy boatloads of fabric. Some are brave enough to ask what in the world I’m going to do with all of it. I am never shy to pull a shield and liners out of my purse to show them. Without fail, several always take my name and phone number and get back to me to schedule events with their circles of friends. There is goodness in this fabric. We all feel it.

Tonight my washer and dryer are humming. Lengths of flannel are hanging over my banister and are draped in doorways. The basket in the laundry room is filling with lint and the piles of folded pieces are deepening. I bought an electric rotary cutter a few weeks ago and have been cutting strips in every spare minute for all of our events. It’s pretty fun to work with all this fabric. I wish Aaron could see me now. It’s probably good he can’t see that our upstairs bedrooms have been taken over by fabric. If he were here to see it, I’d have to remind him on his Valentine’s wish to me 14 years ago: “I hope you find all the fabric you need.” Aaron, I’m trying!