From Help A Girl Out
May is Menstrual Health Awareness Month, and Suzanne Cody and the Help A Girl Out team wanted to share with you some updates on this year’s campaign.
This year, the Help A Girl Out team successfully distributed much-needed feminine hygiene products and adult and children’s diapers across Berks and Schuylkill counties, thanks to the extraordinary collaboration with their partners: Helping Harvest and Co-County Wellness Services and the PR assistance of JPrutzman Enterprises. The Help A Girl Out team’s introduction to Co-County Wellness Services through Terri Hill, Executive Director of the Berks Business Education Coalition, has been invaluable.
Helping Harvest has been instrumental, serving as the central location for product storage, managing their successful drop-off and pack days, and overseeing distribution. The sheer volume of donations—over 15 Gaylords (large, pallet-sized, corrugated cardboard boxes used for bulk shipping and storage)—would have been impossible to house efficiently anywhere else. As the largest hunger relief organization in Berks County, and also serving Schuylkill County, Helping Harvest provides food to over 320 charitable food programs serving over 120,000 individuals annually. The Help A Girl Out team is profoundly grateful for their logistical expertise, vast network, and commitment.
Your generosity resulted in a final total of 88,889 units of product, which is an 87% increase over the 2024 donations. These products are essential in enabling menstruators across the two counties to stay in school, attend work, and navigate daily life with dignity. Co-County Wellness Services enhanced efficient distribution to over 30 entities by managing the order entry process, ensuring accurate and timely delivery to local schools, women’s shelters, youth programs, and other community-based organizations.
The Help A Girl Out team is also deeply grateful to their dedicated volunteers, including Jen Barkman, Realtor and Regional HAGO Coordinator; Jen Bauman, Development and Stewardship Manager at Helping Harvest; Carolyn M. Bazik, MBA – CFO/Director; Barbara N. Waller – COO/Director; Kyle Brady; and the amazing Berks Teens volunteers, including Elido Francisco Jr., Project Director, and Alonso Caicedo, Youth Engagement Manager.
Berks Teens, a youth development program of Co-County Wellness Services, empowers teens to make healthy decisions and become community leaders. These volunteers were instrumental in making the Help A Girl Out team’s “Pick Day” a success, where orders were prepared for distribution by Helping Harvest. Your contributions are directly combating period poverty and making a tangible difference in the lives of so many.
Thank you, from the bottom of the Help A Girl Out team’s hearts, for driving the Help A Girl Out movement. Your support, combined with their partners’ dedication, has enabled this significant achievement and expanded their impact across Berks and Schuylkill counties.
For more information, visit bell-media-group.shorthandstories.com/HAGO/index.html.
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Source: bctv