MIDDLESEX TWP — What may be only a monthly inconvenience for American women can become a life-altering problem for school girls in Third World countries.

That's why nearly 50 women of the Days for Girls International Valencia team meet every Monday to prepare feminine hygiene kits.

Organizers Wendy Kovach of Valencia and Mary Ann Ubinger of Saxonburg said the group has been meeting from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Monday in the Children and Young Adult Center of Holy Sepulcher Roman Catholic Church, 1304 E. Cruikshank Road, since August to make the kits and the bags that contain them in a sewing machine assembly line.

Kovach said, “We make a drawstring bag. Inside of that are two freezer-size Ziploc bags containing an instruction card, a calendar to allow the recipient to count out her 28-day cycle, a washcloth, two pairs of underwear, two reusable shields, eight reusable liners and a bar of soap.”

Ubinger said the team cuts, measures, sews and assembles the kits that are sent overseas with church mission teams.

Janet Konig of Cranberry Township, another team member, said, “The reason for this is in many Third World countries, girls do not have access to personal hygiene items when they are having their menstrual period.”

A lack of these products means many girls stay home from school during their period.

Ubinger said while it's vital to keep girls in school for their education, it's just as important that they are present for school lunches.

Ubinger said, “When they're there, students get a meal at school. If they miss a meal, who knows when they will get another?”

Kovach said, “It's important to keep girls in school and fed. If they miss school every month, some get so far behind they drop out.

Konig said Days for Girls International estimates 1 in 10 girls in sub-Saharan Africa, 113 million adolescent girls in India and 30 percent of school girls in rural Brazil will miss school this year because of a lack of products to help them cope with their menstruation cycle.

Ubinger said, “This is something that women take for granted every day here.”

The team assembles kits every Monday with a break for lunch provided by some of their fellow volunteers.

Kovach said the group is readying 100 kits which will be taken next month to a village in Guatemala by a Holy Sepulcher mission team.

She said the team suggests a $10 donation for every kit, but won't deny a mission group kits if they can't afford them.

Kovach said Days for Girls International Valencia team is relying on word of mouth to alert mission groups about the availability of the hygiene kits.

Konig said the group is also relying on word of mouth to get the group's needs met.

The group is always on the lookout for volunteer workers, donations of fabric, money or fabric store gift cards and prayer partners, she said.

She said, “We are working hard to get out there and get known, not only to get help in making them (the kits) but in getting help to know where they need to be.”

The word seems to be getting out.

This Monday afternoon, the youth center was filled with the sound of sewing machines as women stitched together shields and drawstring bags.

Kovach said, “It's an open-door policy. If you only have an hour, come for an hour. Some come for an hour, some come every Monday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.”

Nancy Sever of Allison Park said she learned about Days for Girls because the Valencia team had a tent at the last Mingle on Main event in Saxonburg.

Pat Palermo of Gibsonia said she volunteered because “we're helping people and the camaraderie here is wonderful.”

Another volunteer, Julie Saenz of Gibsonia, has seen the demand for the kits firsthand on a recent Helping Hands medical mission trip to the Philippines.

“I took 20 kits with me as a trial. I could have taken 2,000,” said Saenz.

She added, “I think it is so important. For most of us, it's a basic necessity, but we take it for granted, the things we have here in the U.S.

“We think it's available to all women, but it's not. But it's something that happens to all women,” Saenz said.

To make a donation or volunteer for the Valencia team of Days for Girls International, call Janet Konig at 412-596-0718 or email msturtle@consolidated.net.