Underwear and paper dolls for a good cause

Listen to this report

Janine Keblish is a leggy, blond model who is going to try to break the world record in Seattle tonight for the most underwear worn at once. 250, is the record by the way. It’s a stunt, she admits, to bring attention to a cause that’s difficult to talk about.

While many of us see things that are wrong in the community or around the world, we generally don’t do anything about it. Meet three Seattle-area women who’ve become accidental activists.

On a trip to an orphanage in Kenya a few years ago, Keblish and Celeste Mergens discovered a shameful secret. There’s a total lack of feminine hygiene products for young women.

“Millions of women all over the world go without, resulting in infection and exploitation and even girls being sold into slavery. They also miss three months of education each year, just for lack of hygiene,” says Mergens. “And you wonder, how could this be happening in this day and age? The truth is, it’s taboo to talk about.”

Mergens started talking about it, and then doing something about it. She founded an international program, based in Lynden, Washington, called Days for Girls to create and distribute washable hygiene kits.

“I just couldn’t look the other way, and even if it was 10 girls we could help or 50 girls or 500 girls. No matter what we had to do, it would be worth it,” Mergens says.

The organization now has thousands of volunteers and has distributed 50,000 kits in 22 countries. I will post a photo tomorrow of what Keblish hopes will be a successful, new Guinness World Record for the most underwear worn at once.

Sarah Francis is a Seattle mom who noticed, “Every parent I talked to was frustrated by the same issues I faced.”

After her son was born, she had a tough time finding quality child care for him.

“I was a first time parent with no idea how much child care cost,” she says, “In Washington state one year of care for an infant costs as much as one year at the U-dub.”

Francis is one of 40,000 women in the state with a group called MomsRising. Tomorrow they’re taking paper dolls to Olympia to urge lawmakers not to cut funding for early-learning programs. In the photo, Francis and her son Jack trace a child-sized paper doll for the demonstration.

“These paper dolls are two dimensional, but our kids aren’t. Well-rounded, quality care matters to the future of each individual child,” says Francis. “These families are counting on legislators to consider the head start they can provide every child with early learning programs.”

Every dollar invested in a quality preschool saves $7 in remedial education and juvenile justice costs later on, she says.

Washington is one of 40 states that fund pre-k learning programs, but our state has a $2 billion budget deficit hanging over it.

“Any way you cut it, early learning programs aren’t just another figure on a piece of paper, they matter to Washington’s families,” says Francis.

By Linda Thomas