It started as just a bunch of gals who liked to quilt.

The E.B. Quilters, named in honor of Oak Harbor Soroptimist Elena Bainbridge, is a group of Whidbey residents who gather at the Cottage Hobby House in Anacortes to quilt.

When Brenda Merrick mentioned Days for Girls, an international program that sews reusable sanitary napkin kits for girls in underprivileged areas, the E.B. Quilters got to stitching.

“We said, ‘oh no, we need to do this,’” said Shannon Paterson, now chapter co-director, with Merrick, of the 12 E.B. Quilters. Since then, Paterson said, there has been a steady flow of new volunteers.

“Everybody got involved. It was like wildfire.”

The group has since started sharing an Oak Harbor space with the Heartbeat Safety Center on Fidalgo Avenue and meets at 5 p.m. the last Monday of every month.

Paterson said it is their hope to increase the frequency of their kit creation days in July.

For each kit, a girl receives a fabric bag that can be worn as a backpack filled with supplies including two “shields” that attach to undergarments, eight flannel absorbent liners that are tucked into the shield, one wash cloth, two new undergarments, one travel-sized bar of soap and a couple of ziplock bags.

Paterson concedes that the subject may be a tough one to discuss for some people.

“It’s one of those subjects you don’t bring up at the grocery store,” Paterson said.

But that makes it all the more important, Paterson said, because the organization “provides a product they have access to, it’s reusable, and it’s healthy for them.”

The concept comes from the Lynden-based Days for Girls International message that girls and women without access to supplies often miss school and work.

“What if not having sanitary supplies meant days without school, days without income, days without leaving the house?” the Days for Girls website states. “Girls use leaves, mattress stuffing, newspaper, corn husks, rocks, anything they can find … but still miss up to two months of school every year.

“The poverty cycle can be broken when girls stay in school.”

Founding member Kathy Vass, who has been sewing for most of her life, said it’s “really kind of fun when you can do something creative and share it with someone.”

“They’re missing school because they’re on their period for crying out loud,” Vass said. “You feel like you’re changing someone’s life.”

Kits made in Oak Harbor and sent to Lynden and then are distributed to Africa or where they are needed. However, the organization has 325 chapters worldwide  and the United States. In New Orleans, for example, a chapter focuses on the area’s homeless population, Paterson said.

Studies have shown that these reusable packs can last for up to three years, Patterson said.

Plus, Patterson said, “a woman in Africa can’t just go down to 7-Eleven and buy what she needs. Disposables don’t work there.”

While those with an affinity for sewing are welcome, anyone wishing to be involved can also donate fabric, travel soaps, money or their time to help assemble the kits. Students looking to meet their community service requirement have also donated time.

“You don’t have to be able to sew,” Paterson said.

Paterson visited the Church on the Rock last week and found Barbara Bochman who said she knew immediately she wanted to get involved.

“It actually brought me to tears,” Bochman said. “If this is one day a month I can make a different, it’s so simple to me.”

For more information or to get involved, contact Paterson at 360-929-5175 or shannon@daysforgirls.org