writing: Zion Clifton
design & photos: Lilly Wood
As the high school begins to welcome more students, it also welcomes a new frontier of empowering clubs for its students to join, one of these clubs is I Support the Girls.
I Support the Girls Club is a volunteer-based group that, according to its president, sophomore Alina Rakhimzyanova, can give students the opportunity to “earn volunteer hours for donating feminine hygiene products to homeless women in need”.
According to Rakhimzyanova, the club has donated around 4,531 women’s self-care items including, “2,164 pads and 1,320 tampons for women in need around Columbus” she said.
Students are also offered an incentive of an hour’s worth of volunteering for each box of women’s toiletries they donate. With the influx of donations from students around the school, the impact of the cause is seemingly immeasurable.
“Right now, I am shocked and impressed at the outcome and amount of donations we’ve been able to collect. It shows that the students really do care about the cause,” English Teacher and Adviser Alicia Barden said.
The club is a chapter of the international I Support the Girls non-profit organization. The goal of the nonprofit is to give women in need access to feminine hygiene products that can many times be expensive and unaffordable.
“When you love, you give the people you love what they need, and so with this club the goal is to love by giving these women who are in need the things that they need,” Barden said.
With the influx of donations from students around the school, the impact of the cause is seemingly immeasurable.
“Right now, I am shocked and impressed at the outcome and amount of donations we’ve been able to collect. It shows that the students really do care about the cause,” Barden said.
The club also plans to meet at Olentangy Local School District Central office to propose the addition of free pads and tampons in all OLSD school bathrooms. Rakhimzyanova and other members of the club are in the process of creating a slide show for their presentation.
“I believe no women should ever have to make the choice between food and their health,” Rakhimzyanova said, “Feminine products should be available to everyone, and no one should ever have to give up a meal and their dignity for it.”
The club’s meetings take place every month, in Barden’s classroom from 2:35 to 3:30 p.m. Activities include designing and decorating donation boxes, organizing bras, and creating gift bags for women in need. The club just met on March 14 and will meet again next sometime in April. Donations will be accepted until the end of the year and in years to come.
Students are encouraged to join the club not only for the extra incentive of volunteer hours available but also the lasting impact they can have on their community.
“They will be helping out their city and fighting for a good cause,” Rakhimzyanova said.
There are multiple ways to get involved with the club. The easiest way is to donate to the club by bringing in feminine hygiene products. Things like gently used or new bras and new underwear, pads, tampons, cleansing wipes, deodorant, and other toiletries are welcomed. Participating in meetings are also encouraged as they help to get donations out to ones in need as soon as possible.
With clubs like I Support the Girls, the high school community can say it is helping to contribute to helping the overall community. While Rakhimzyanova is only one of the students helping to better the community, she is making a difference and urges other students to support and be the ones advocating for those in need.
Without student contributions, clubs like I Support the Girls wouldn’t be possible and for that she thanks the students who have and plan to donate to the cause.
The club also plans to meet at Olentangy School District Central office to propose the addition of free pads and tampons in all OLSD school bathrooms.
For more information of I Support the Girls club, visit the club’s Instagram.
