Minster to host popular Yorkits annual workshop

Rotary York Ainsty’s flagship project, Yorkits, is holding a workshop in York Minister on Tuesday March 5th as part of celebrations to mark International Women’s Day.

Places for the two sessions are being snapped up as women and pupils from several of the city’s schools prepare to create dozens of washable, reusable period kits for girls around the world. This will enable them to carry on with daily activities and stay in education.

Each kit costs around £10 to make and is made up of eight pads, two pad pockets, a waterproof bag for carrying soiled items, two pairs of knickers and a flannel. This is all packed into a brightly coloured drawstring bag and sent where they are most needed.

So far, thousands of these kits, which can be used for three years, have been sent to 14 African and 4 Asian countries, to Belize and Brazil and to refugee camps in Europe and Yemen.

The group also helps with seed- funding for self-help community projects so that women around the world can source materials and sew the kits by hand or with a simple sewing machine.

Project Leader, Janice Lawson, said ‘The Minster workshop is a major event in our calendar in addition to the weekly sessions we hold in Tesco Extra at Askham Bar, York. Hundreds of women and girls attend, with varying degrees of sewing skills, to create a fantastic community atmosphere and around 70 new kits ready for despatch. These kits change young girls’ lives for the better freeing them up from the embarrassment and stigma of their monthly periods by giving them the products they need to get on with their lives’.

Pads: https://youtu.be/TAFf60Q4Wkg

Pockets: https://youtu.be/myy9rxqN8Gg

The annual Yorkits workshop, which was the brainchild of Issy Sanderson who founded Yorkits after a lifetime of working in poor countries, will take place on Tuesday 5th March at York Minster.

There will be two sessions: 10am until 12.30pm, and 1.30pm until 4pm. All materials and equipment will be provided, and refreshments will be available. Places at the workshops are limited.

Free tickets need to be booked in advance. Tickets are available at www.yorkminster.org or by calling 01904 557200.

Please note: There is a suggested donation of £3, payable on the day, to cover the costs of materials and to help towards seed-funding community self-help groups overseas to make kits out of local materials.

Yorkits can also be contacted on yorkitsrotaryainsty@gmail.com  or on the Rotary Ainsty website.