The Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance is hosting a bake sale and hygiene drive from Monday, March 30 to Friday, April 3 starting at 10 a.m. and ending at 3 p.m. in varying locations on campus.
On Monday, Tuesday and Friday, the bake sale will be located near the Jamba Juice in the Student Union. On Wednesday, the bake sale will be near the Student Union Bookstore and the location for Thursday is currently unknown.
In addition to selling baked items, FMLA will also be accepting items for a Hygiene Drive. Items being accepted are feminine products, tampons, soap, shampoo, toothpaste and other items of that type. There will be a bin next to each bake sale and in the Women’s Center to collect donated items.
All proceeds gathered from the bake sale will be donated to the Homefull Center in Dayton, where the donations will be given to the St. Vincent de Paul Gateway Shelter for Women and Families.
“In our mission statement, it says that we help women in need in our community,” Kelsey Tingler said, Junior Integrated Language Arts Education major and FMLA president. “It’s a by women, for women kind of thing, so we’re trying to stay true to that. We’re zoning in on the women’s shelter because we found out that they don’t get a lot of feminine products, which is why we asked for panty liners, tampons and more.”
This is FMLA’s first event since its revival after a three year hiatus.
“I wanted a feminist group on campus, so I went looking for one and found something through the Wright State website,” Tingler said. “I contacted them to join and they said that it hasn’t been active for three years. I went over to the women’s center and I asked about it and they said that they needed someone to redo it. I didn’t think that I would be leading it, but I said that I would do it.”
Even though the FMLA just made its comeback this semester, the organization, according to Tingler, is off to a good start, as they are already approaching 30 members.
In addition to helping women in the community, FMLA also gives seeks to increase awareness of sexual assault and attitudes toward feminism.
“Another part of our mission statement is to work toward the elimination of sexual violence on our campus and beyond by educating people. We also feel like there is a stigma of the terms feminism and feminist. People have this stereotype that feminists are man-hating, bra-burning, women, so we’re trying to get away from that stigma. We just want women to be treated the same way as men, we want to end violence against women and show that it’s not what people make it out to be.”
FMLA, according to Tingler, is always recruiting. Students interested in joining FMLA should email Tingler or FMLA vice president Carly Perkins and inquire about membership.
