The Links, Incorporated non-profit met with Metro Nashville Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Adrienne Battle at the Capitol to donate health products for young women and girls in middle school and high school. They donated the items on Mon. March 10.
President of the Memphis River City Chapter Lashell Vaughn said the Tennessee Links Incorporated chapters organized this service project for young women and girls to provide them products for their menstrual cycles.
“We know how important it is for girls to continue in school, but once a month there’s things a girl needs,” Vaughn said. “We put together period packs. Right at about 500 of them, we had the superintendent come over to accept our donation and hang out with us.”
The nonprofit organization dates back to November 1946 when two Black women Margaret Rosell Hawkins and Sarah Strickland Scott in Philadelphia invited seven of their friends to organize the new club. It is one of the nation’s oldest and largest volunteer service organizations committed to enriching, sustaining, and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African Americans and other people of African ancestry, according to the organization’s website.
Vaughn said this service project’s goal is to teach young school age girls that unexpected female menstrual cycles can begin during the day and are often unavoidable. At their girls’ ages, it can be devastating to a young woman starting her cycle at school.
The Links provided care packages to these girls adorned in bags that included inspirational quotes for the girls.
“We’re African American women but we are for all. So, when we serve our community, we serve everybody.” said Vaughn. “We don’t look at color, we don’t look at age, we look at what matters.”
Inside the Capitol, The Links members were easily spotted with their large green flower pins and pearl necklaces. These are their symbols of unity for the community. The Links ladies traveled from across Tennessee to spend their day at the Capitol meeting lawmakers. They have multiple active chapters across the state including Chattanooga, Knoxville, Memphis, Nashville, and Shelby County.
This story is part of week long news coverage of the TN General Assembly by the UT-Chattanooga PULSE Project.
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