Washable Pads
Why Washable Pads?
In impoverished communities worldwide women and girls are missing school or work due to their periods. Disposable pads are expensive and inaccessible to those who are struggling to provide food for their families. Some women and girls resort to using leaves, mattress stuffing, newspaper, corn husks, rocks ... anything they can find. Using these items puts them at risk for infection. Worse, girls are often exploited by men in exchange for money to buy sanitary supplies. And when there is nothing to use, they remain home, sitting on a rag for the duration of their period.
Dignity4Girls promotes access to quality washable feminine pads by providing templates, instructions and materials to U.S. and international women enabling them to sew washable pads. Washable pads allow girls and women to attend school and work while menstruating. If well cared for, these pads can provide several years of protection. Access to washable pads has proven to reduce school absenteeism, dropout rates, and even early pregnancies.
Want to sew washable pads?
Whether you are based in the U.S. or an international group, please start by emailing us at Dignity4Girls@gmail.com and tell us about yourself or your group. We are eager to work together to help girls stay in school.
NOT a sewer, but wishing to get involved?
There are many ways to help. Contact us at Dignity4Girls@gmail.com to learn about items you or your group can collect for kits or helping with tasks like cutting fabric.
International sewing groups need our support. CLICK HERE to donate. Just $10 can fund a sewing team to help a girl keep her educational dreams alive!
Scroll down to learn about and see photos from our ministry partners in Kenya and Liberia
Want to sew pads or collect items?
Email us at Dignity4Girls@gmail.com
Partners who Sew & Distribute pads
KENYA
The skilled ladies of Kisii, led by seamstress Glaldys, have their own established sewing team and have sewn over 3000 washable pads for their community.
These trained seamstresses distribute to schools and churches while presenting special health education. The team has reached over 20 schools 35 churches, and three special girls schools for the deaf.
Liberia
Liberia
Over the past several years Dignity4Girls has help facilitate the shipment of over 10,000 U.S. sewn Days for Girls kits to the Liberian Children's Ministry of Liberia, west Africa. They have blessed girls at 15 rural schools overseen by Director Joe Boway. Joe was born in the jungles of Liberia and as a child came to Christ through a missionary family. Due to civil wars, Joe and many others ended up in refugee camps.
For 14 years civil war prevented most schools from operating; as a result, today more than half of the adults in Liberia are illiterate. Joe, who now lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with his wife and sons, created the Liberian Children's Ministry as a way to educate children in the jungle regions. Joe now oversees 15 schools and over 6,500 students!
In March of 2024 a team consisting of several skilled sewists from Elmhurst, Illinois, traveled to Liberia to train a group of 22 Liberian women to sew washable pads. These women will provide pads for present and future girls at four of the Liberian Children's Ministries schools. Dignity4Girls is excited to see the Liberian women take on this endeavor and provide for their own school girls.
South Sudan
Confident Children out of Conflict Orphanage
Dignity4Girls partners with Kenneth Elisapana and the Confident Children out of Conflict orphanage to provide staff and adolescent girls with washable pads.
Photos from Kenya and Liberia
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REMEMBERING Gayle
It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of our founder, Gayle Sommerfed. On September 24, 2025, Gayle went home to be with her Lord and Savior.
Gayle was a visionary who, motivated by the struggle of Kenyan girls missing school due to period poverty, founded Dignity4Girls in 2014. Inspired by her vision and leadership, D4G has helped over 10,000 girls and women gain access to life-changing menstrual solutions leading to better health, education, and brighter futures.