As junior Ava Tingue scrolls through Instagram she stumbles upon an old friend’s story. She becomes intrigued reading “The Girls Wellness Initiative” on the screen, with the details of her friend’s post encouraging others to get involved with the cause.
She reaches out to her friend Danya Risam-Chandi at Hockaday girls high school. Soon after, she sparks the idea of starting her own chapter. The Girls Wellness Initiative is a non-profit organization started in spring of 2021. TGWI brings awareness and education to girls’ health by hosting seminars at homeless shelters and doing fundraisers for health products. They provide resources and teach them to understand their bodies. They work to make a change in the community and worldwide as well. When the organization began they donated to over 800 women in India, and they’re working to continue the spread of information and resources. Tingue officially started her chapter of the club in September putting her passions into action.
“We have so many clubs here at Marcus and none of them are about women,” said Tingue. “That really speaks about the real world too. Women are still underrepresented. So I wanted to bring this club to Marcus to educate girls.”
As Tingue learned more about period poverty around the world, it initiated her call to action on the issue. She says that if she is confused and under-educated about her health in the privileged area she lives in, it shows how much more detrimental the issue is around the world.
“There’s so much misinformation that girls can really easily fall prey to, especially if they don’t have resources for education on health,” said Tingue “I think about the girls who are homeless or are living in areas with even more stigma. They don’t know anything about their own health, so I think it’s really important we give these girls a good start, because health is the foundation to everything else in your life.”
So far the organization has hosted a menstrual product fundraiser to give back to the community, and will be hosting their first health seminar at a homeless shelter in Denton with a certified OBGYN (obstetrician gynecologist) as the guest speaker. As they grow the chapter they hope to host bigger fundraisers and more educational health seminars for girls.
An issue Tingue has seen regarding the organization is lack of male involvement. If change is to be made on women’s health and removing the bad air in society surrounding the topic, it could make a large difference to the cause.
“Certainly a big part of reducing stigma and making health care more accessible for women is recruiting the men,” said Tingue. “We aren’t supposed to talk about women’s issues. I can’t give you a real reason as to why people think periods are so disgusting. I think it’s really just the societal stigma around women.”
Junior Chaz Belcher says as a male, he believes it is important for everyone to be a part of the conversation.
“I think that it is very important for everyone to learn about women’s health and men’s health so we can all be respectful to each other’s bodies,” said Belcher. “We should be more mindful about what’s going on in each other’s lives, to a certain extent, so that we can all understand what we’re going through so we can help them if they need help.”
Tingue is excited to help educate, create awareness, and provide resources to make a change on this critical global issue . She’s happy to work with girls around her to share ideas and create bigger and better solutions to issues. Tingue hopes her efforts will put an end to period poverty and misrepresentation of women’s health.
“A lot of people don’t know anything about their own health, even me, I just kind of figured it out,” said Tingue. “I don’t think anyone should have to do that. So that hit me home the most. I want to help out the girls who struggle with these issues.”
