Roughly 132 million girls across the world are out of school. Most of these girls will never receive an education beyond the primary level, and some receive no education at all. But, the advocates who created She’s the First intend to fund young girls’ education throughout the world one bake sale at a time.
She’s the First is a non-profit foundation created by girls for girls. This organization has been helping empower girls in over 40 countries for the last 14 years through their bake sales and outreach programs. Every October, schools throughout the United States host tie dye bake sales to raise money. The tie dye cupcakes have become She’s the First’s brand for their national campaign, and this bake sale’s popularity has grown over the years as more schools continue to get involved. Every school that participates is required to pledge a minimum of $400 and the proceeds go towards funding one girls’ education in a country of the schools’ choice. Combined efforts from across the country come together to fund these girls’ futures and East Islip’s French Club gets to be a part of that effort.
Friday, October 28th marked the 10th annual tie dye bake sale at EIHS. For a decade Madame Pinka, French Club’s advisor, has teamed up with She’s the First to help girls in Gambia. “French Club was becoming very much a performance club and I started disliking the direction we were moving in, so I started moving towards more international volunteer work. That’s when I found She’s the First,” said Madame Pinka.
After researching international volunteer opportunities Pinka discovered this organization, and wanting to put a “French flare” on the project, she decided to help girls in the Gambia since French is spoken there. Back when the club first started doing the bake sale, She’s the First would actually put each school in touch with the specific girl they were helping. They would receive letters and pictures of these young girls and really get an opportunity to see who they were helping. In the past, French Club has helped girls named Vivian (top), Aminata (bottom), Isatou, and Navaje.
Every year the club pledges the traditional $400 but typically donates over that amount. For the past two years, thanks to the idea and design by Allison Benowitz, the French Club has raised even more money in rubber bracelet sales. These tie dye bracelets bring in additional donations and bring awareness to the bake sale in the days leading up to it. Between the bracelet and the cupcake sales, Madame Pinka and the French Club were able to raise about $550 for She’s the First. “It was truly inspirational to help women around the world receive an education,” said Anna, a returning member of the French Club.
Moving into the rest of the year, French Club doesn’t intend on slowing down its volunteer work. It only plans to work more locally, working with organizations like The Beading Hearts and raising money for our school’s annual “Stuff-a-box” event with their Bodacious Brownies sale in December. But, the tie bake sale will definitely be marked as one of the club’s biggest events with one of the largest impacts, hopefully continuing for years to come.
