“That thing, you know…that thing,” Carol Daniel stated emphatically and enthusiastically from the stage.
Well, that “thing” is women’s and girls’ periods. On Saturday, April 30th 180 people gathered at the Missouri Botanical Garden to support Dignity Period and our work to provide dignity to girls in Ethiopia.
Carol Daniel, news anchor at St. Louis’ CBS radio station, KMOX was the emcee for the evening. Her energy and humor took a subject which is taboo in most of the world (a woman’s period) and made it relatable to guests in the room.
Thanks to the overwhelming support of those attending the event, we raised over $105,000. These funds will allow us to provide sanitary pads to girls in school, research cultural beliefs and social attitudes around menstruation in rural Ethiopia, and develop interventions to improve the lives of menstruating girls and women based on this research.
Co-founder of Dignity Period, Dr. Lewis Wall shared an exciting update of the organization’s work in the last year: distributing pads, developing educational programs for boys and girls about menstruation and creating a model latrine to give girls a safe, private place to deal with their periods and other hygienic matters. All wonderful news! We know the plans for next year are even greater.
Dr. Loko Abraham, Dean at the College of Health Sciences, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Child Health and our research partner at Mekelle University joined us from Ethiopia to share a few words and express his gratitude for the work Dignity Period is doing in his country.
We were so thankful to have the room full of incredible photographs from Joni Kabana, a Portland-based professional photographer, who has traveled to Ethiopia 22 times. Each photo had an amazing story behind it, which deepened the connection those in attendance had to the work of Dignity Period and the girls and women the organization supports. It’s no surprise folks were out-bidding each other to take home a photo at the end of the night!
The feeling was electric, literally, with a St. Louis-style thunderstorm joining us for most of the evening. Supporters were generous and are looking forward to sharing the story of Dignity Period with others.
Thank you to all of the committee members, volunteers, staff and attendees who made the Spring Gala a success.
