Club Fights for International Women’s Education

The Fight Club plans to create 200 kits and raise $2,000 for Days for Girls, an organization that provides sanitary products so girls don’t have to miss school.

The annual goal of the Fight Club is to raise monetary and item donations to distribute to people around the world.

While the name of the club is synonymous with the Chuck Palahniuk novel and the feature film staring Brad Pitt, the Campolindo organization is focused on more noble causes. “We were thinking fight for education and to attract a lot of people because we had 130m people sign up,” said Fight Club president, sophomore Lily Storrs.

“I am really passionate about fighting for woman’s rights and helping women in 3rd world countries or helping women across the world,” said sophomore and co-founder Anne Leach.

Because menstrual cycles may cause girls without access to sanitary products to miss school, it can be detrimental to their learning. “Many girls are not educated because they don’t have access to any sanitary products and we are given that and [we] don’t think about it. We just take it for granted and so after watching “Girl Rising” we were really inspired,” said Storrs. The film follows the lives of various girls who fight to gain an education and thrive in their underdeveloped countries.

“Lily Storrs had a great idea, and I thought I should support her with it,” said Leach. 

Members of the Fight Club helped sew different components of the kit and then “sent it to the headquarters for Days for Girls, and…[the organization] has many headquarters in Africa.” said Storrs.

Each kit has reusable parts that are easy to wash and dry. The brightly colored fabric was used to “allow…  women to wash and dry them outside in the sun without causing embarrassment,” according to the Days for Girls website. The components include drawstring bags, liners, soap, shields, and a washcloth.

“It is something that we can do back home … that women in other countries around the world can use them and then wash them and use them again, and its something that even i think we should be doing here because it creates less waste and its really important because a lot of women do not have access to feminine hygiene products and its really something that … will allow women to be able to go to school for as much as they can,” said Leach.

According to their website, Ann Laemmlen Lewis, co-founder of the Utah Valley Chapter said, “They were thrilled [when they received the kits]…What beautiful smiles! What a perfect gift. I love that these Kits are made by hand by other women. You can feel and see that they are made with love, each different, each beautiful.”

“We have 4 guys in our club and so most of them were like, ‘Oh no, you just want to help girls’ …  but now they are realizing it is so unfair that so many girls are denied education and that we really need to focus on giving girls education because in other countries girls do not have the same opportunities that we do,” said Storrs, “My friend goes to school in Palo Alto, and her friend has a club that Skypes girls in other countries and provides tutoring for them, and I was thinking of incorporating that into fight club, too.“

“I am hoping that we can get some more people involved in it, and that we can raise awareness about this issue,” said Leach. “A lot of people don’t think about [things]… we take for granted.”