Just about anyone who becomes an independent Norwex consultant or client knows about the company’s mission to create safe havens and radically reduce the number of chemicals in homes and in the environment.
What people often don’t realize is that Norwex, through its network of consultants, also is supporting all kinds of efforts at the community level to make the world a better place. Since the inception of its charitable giving program in 2013, Norwex has donated more than $1 million to grassroots organizations across the globe.
Here, independent consultant Lisa Oddo talks about her involvement with the Days for Girls organization and how Norwex, through its support of the organization, is helping women and girls in Uganda and Sierra Leone.
From Littleton to Africa
Lisa first learned about Norwex’s Charitable Awards program when she attended Norwex National Conference in 2016. “Sitting in the audience and hearing about all these amazing groups that consultants are volunteering with and that Norwex has chosen to fund, was incredibly moving,” Lisa says. “It really made me see the bigger picture of what we can achieve when we work to change the world collectively.”
Lisa left the awards ceremony committed to do something.
“I prayed a lot about finding a cause that aligns with my passions and desires.” Not long after, friends at her church in Littleton, Colorado introduced her to Days for Girls. “As it often seems to happen, when you have a real desire to find something, you do. The more I learned about Days for Girls, the more I knew that I wanted to be involved.”
It spoke to Lisa that Days for Girls’ helps girls and women around the world in a very practical, sustainable, and solution-based way. Girls and women in many developing countries are limited in the activities they can do and are isolated for several days each month because feminine hygiene products are not available or affordable. This has an enormous impact on their ability to go to school or to support their families.
By providing sustainable menstrual care solutions and health education, Days for Girls gives girls and women resources that allow them to preserve their dignity and remain active participants in society throughout the month.
Lisa began working with Days for Girls by volunteering with a team that creates DFG kits, small, attractive drawstring bags that girls can take anywhere and include washable cloth panty liners and waterproof shields, panties, washcloths, soap and educational materials.
“Feminine hygiene products and underwear, are conveniences we take for granted. But when you are able to look beyond yourself, to think about someone else’s experience, and realize that their lives can be made so much better with a simple solution, it’s really empowering.”
Last spring Lisa and the Littleton team of Norwex consultants nominated Days for Girls for Norwex’s Charitable Awards, knowing that a gift of any amount would have an impact. At national conference in August, she found out that Norwex would be awarding $5,000 to the organization to create 700 DFG kits for girls and women in Uganda and Sierra Leone.
“I still get teary when I think about the small effort it took for me to volunteer and fill out the nomination form compared to the impact of $5000, which will make it possible for 700 girls to go to school, and to work, and to find new opportunities.” In June, a team from Days for Girls will travel to Sierra Leone to train 200 girls to assemble the DFG bags that Norwex is funding.
In addition to the joy of being able to support an organization that she believes in, the Charitable Award Program has redoubled Lisa’s commitment to Norwex.
“Knowing that this company’s leadership really want to make a difference in this world is so inspirational,” says Lisa. “By being a part of Norwex, we’re impacting not only individual households but also generations. We are making a difference for a lifetime and beyond. We’re not only providing products, we are providing solutions.”
An additional, unintentional consequence of her involvement with Days for Girls is that Lisa’s Norwex business has benefitted. By having Norwex parties as fundraisers for Days for Girls, she’s shared the benefits of Norwex with an entirely new group of guests, many of whom are now her loyal customers.
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We encourage all Norwex consultants to consider nominating smaller, local charities that share Norwex’s passion for improving quality of life for the 2018 Charitable Awards. Nomination forms will soon be available and the chosen recipients will be announced at Norwex National Conference, which runs July 20 – 22, 2018, in Dallas, Texas.
