CLEVELAND — A sorority is working to address two problems affecting how children feel and learn —hundreds of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. members of the Great Lakes Region gathered in Cleveland to give students and children access to feminine hygiene products and books.
The Alpha Kappa Alpha Great Lakes Region launched its centennial service project in honor of serving the region for 100 years; more than 500 members of Alpha Kappa Alpha packed 1,000 feminine hygiene kits filled with tampons and pads.
“We're providing feminine hygiene products to help these young girls, our young girls, our community grow and understand their bodies and needs,” said Great Lakes Regional Director Gwendolyn Kirtley.
Kirtley says their goal is to uplift the community and provide information to young girls. The hygiene kits will be given to five Cleveland Municipal School District schools.
“There's so many young ladies and families, especially those [who are] on public assistance, who are not allowed to use any of those funds to purchase feminine hygiene products. And for some families, that could be a hardship,” said Feminine Hygiene Project Lead Ruthie King.”
But it's not just feminine hygiene.
The group is also uplifting the community by addressing another problem, illiteracy. To get books in children's hands, Kim Motley-Bland, co-chair of the book project, says they are going a less traditional route.
“We're putting books in a barber shop, we're putting books in daycares, we're putting books in many different organizations that kids can be exposed to great literacy,” Motley-Bland said.
She says it’s important that books showcase diversity and that kids read about people who look like them.
“When kids can see themselves, then they can aspire to do those things. We have books from Mae Jemison. We have books that have ABCs about inventors, and these books [are] where our kids can aspire to be a doctor, a lawyer and a teacher,” Motley-Bland said.
Books for a community that desperately needs them. A report from the Ohio Department of Education and Work Force found nearly 44 percent of Ohio third graders were not on track in their third-grade E-L-A assessments for the 2021-22 school year.
“Children don't necessarily have the books at home to learn their history or to even read, so we plan to give away more than 100,000 books across the Great Lakes as a part of this initiative,” Kirtley said.
