Volunteers in Action: Wake Forest Woman’s Club & GFWC Four Leaf Clover Club of Albion, Idaho
Amy Brown, the President of the Wake Forest Woman’s Club (NC), determined a unique and personal undertaking for her President’s Project. Through her weekly volunteer work at the Wake Forest Community Table program at Hope House in Wake Forest, Amy became aware of the need for feminine hygiene products by the women being served.
These products are costly, necessary, and take up a good portion of their budgets. Such products are not an eligible benefit of North Carolina SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) or SNAP for WIC (Women, Infants, and Children).
Further, Huma Farid, MD, in an article in Women’s Health of Harvard Health Publishing, uses the term “period poverty” to describe “the nearly 22 million women living in poverty in the US who cannot afford menstrual hygiene products.”
The women served by the weekly dinner program frequently request such items. Amy states, “As a woman’s club, I wanted to support women in our community. These products are expensive for them.” Amy communicated her message to her fellow clubwomen and they responded by donating boxes of personal hygiene items to supplement her purchases. Over 150 boxes were delivered to Hope House and will be distributed to clients served by the program.
GFWC Four Leaf Clover Club of Albion Idaho recently worked with the eastern Idaho Food Bank on a agricultural/farmworker food distribution event. Several members helped by directing traffic, assisting people with food from the pallets and helping load the food into vehicles. The State President’s project is to help alleviate hunger in Idaho and all four clubs in Idaho are doing their part.
