Greek Week sponsors student driven philanthropy
Throughout the week of March 22-26, Panhellenic, IFC and NPHC organizations at Wofford participated in fundraising activities for the She’s Here Campaign through Greek Week Festivities. Fundraising events included a Philanthropy Trunk Show featuring student run businesses with 10% of the profits going to She’s Here, a Panhellenic Pageant and Fraternity Date Auction, Venmo Wars and Greek Week t-shirt sales.
The mission of the She’s Here Campaign is to raise awareness to help keep girls in Tanzania in school, for them to have the opportunity to say they are here when their name is called out for attendance every morning and for teachers to mark “She’s here.”
Combining efforts to educate girls in Sub-Saharan Africa about menstrual health and economically empowering Massai Women, the She’s Here Campaign operates by selling handcrafted beaded bracelets for $10 that boldly state “She’s Here.” The bracelets are made by the Massai women in Tanzania, and the profit from the sales goes to an organization called Kilipads which gives educational seminars to girls in Africa about menstrual health and provides each girl with reusable sanitary napkins called kilipacks.
The She’s Here Campaign was founded by Ella Patrick ‘20 along with the help of Olivia Gross ‘20 and Olivia Scraibman ‘20 during their time as Wofford Students.
“Most of us had female role models like mothers and aunts and cousins who taught us what it meant to be on our periods,” Patrick shared. “However, this is not a luxury that girls everywhere get the privilege of having. In fact, 15% of girls in Tanzania aged 7-13 are out of school. 76% of girls in Tanzania aged 14-19 are out of school. So by the time they begin menstruating, most girls simply drop out of school.”
Currently, the Campaign is run by Wofford students including Rivers Clarke ‘21, Lelia Jones ‘21, Shaw Castleman ‘22, Grace Gehlken ‘22, and Mary Katherine Gibbs ‘22, and Abigail Woodall ‘23.
“Being a part of the She’s Here Campaign has been extremely empowering,” Woodall said.“Through working on social media and being able to understand our mission behind the scenes only makes me imagine how empowered the women we help may feel. Through this campaign, we are supporting and educating women about something they should never be shamed for. I truly couldn’t imagine not supporting this campaign and raising awareness, because a menstrual cycle should absolutely not be a reason to miss out on school, adventures of life and being empowered.”
Being chosen as the Greek week philanthropy offered the organization an exciting opportunity to continue raising awareness about this important cause.
“I think it’s especially important to have Panhellenic, IFC, and NPHC involved in raising money for She’s Here because this campaign is all about women’s health not just being a women’s issue, but a community issue,” Elizabeth Taylor ‘22, a panhellenic delegate and She’s Here Ambassador said. “The stigmas both here and outside of Wofford about feminine products and reproduction are so limiting and make young girls and women feel isolated in their needs and potential struggle. Having the guys on Wofford’s campus step up and find a role alleviates a lot of that pressure on women, and allows for a more open conversation, which will no doubt lead to improvement and an increase in compassion.”
Olivia Miller ‘21, Vice President of Programming of Panhellenic Council added that Panhellenic, IFC, and NPHC were excited to support She’s Here for Greek Week because it sheds light on a problem that many were unaware of.
“The She’s Here campaign is promoted throughout the Wofford community daily so if we could give back to something so dear to our hearts, we wanted to do so in the biggest way possible,” she said.
