- November 23, 2024
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Jill and Mia Reynolds hold up a personalized sanitary kit. Photo by Paige Wilson
Jill and Mia Reynolds begin assembling sanitary kits. Photo by Paige Wilson
Tampons and pads are stacked high on a pool table in the home of Jill and Mia Reynolds. Photo by Paige Wilson
Towers of tampons and piles of pads were stacked high on Palm Coast resident Jill Reynolds’ pool table.
She never thought she'd have about $750 worth of feminine products, deodorants and underwear in her house. But on Jan. 26, she and her 10-year-old daughter Mia started boxing up sanitary kits — in a new effort they call “No Fear in Here, Period.”
The nonprofit initiative aims to empower young girls to not be ashamed of their menstrual periods, but to embrace their womanhood. With a goal of creating 350 bags of female products, the pair will soon donate the kits to the Palm Coast division of the Volusia/Flagler Boys and Girls Club, students at Flagler Palm Coast High School (through the nurses office) and the Family Life Center — Flagler County's domestic violence and sexual violence support center.
“When girls or women first get their periods, they’re probably going to feel embarrassed or something and they don’t want to tell anybody and they hide it,” Mia said. “But now that they’ll have this, they don’t have to tell anybody else, they just don’t have to feel embarrassed.”
Once this idea became a priority for Mia, Jill said it became a priority for her.
“This is a kit that a girl can take home that she can have,” Jill said. “She doesn’t have to keep running every day to the school nurse.”
Jill said she isn't surprised that her Mia thought of this effort, despite only being a fifth-grader.
“I was watching a video and there was a guy who helped a homeless person, and I wanted to do something for someone else,” Mia said. “And so, me and my mom thought about something and decided to do something so girls don’t feel the shame and guilt they feel when they have their periods.”
When the idea turned into reality toward the end of 2018, they created a GoFundMe account and Amazon Wishlist with the items they needed and asked friends and family for monetary and supply donations.
“It’s turning into something bigger than we though,” Jill said. “We’re going to follow it however long it takes us.”
While they love the idea of giving these feminine products to girls, they're open about the future of “No Fear in Here,” as they think they could add different endings to the name to provide different things for girls, such as “No Fear in Here, Prom Dresses.”
It's just the beginning for Mia, who will attend Camp Congress in April to learn about bills and passing laws. She said politics are a passion of hers.
Ultimately, Mia said the nonprofit boils down to her desire to help people.
“We’re always about girl empowerment and we’ve been getting into activism these past couple years, so we decided that we wanted to do something right here in our community to make a difference,” Jill said.
Visit https://www.gofundme.com/no-fear-in-here-period to donate.
