Berkeley Smith (granddaughter of Nick and Rita Foster and the great granddaughter of Bobby Fitzgerald in Waurika) is on a mission. It’s called the Love.Project.
As a ten year old girl she has become aware of the needs of young women and the challenges they face in public schools when it comes to access to feminine hygiene products during the school day. It can be embarrassing for some girls to have to constantly grab their gym bag or purse before being excused to the rest room during class or perhaps needing to ask a teacher for the needed items if they were not able to bring them from home.
In order to remedy this dilemma, she came up with the idea of installing cabinets in the ladies rest rooms that could be continually stocked with feminine products and available free of charge. The idea was implemented in her school at Zanies. The idea caught on and now Berkeley is branching out to other schools in the area.
The Love.Project is now active in Zanies, Healdton, Wilson, and most recently Waurika—her mother’s hometown. Berkeley is the daughter of Jessica Smith, formerly Jessica Foster. She is a 2003 graduate of Waurika.
The project has also been approved for Tahlequah and Tupelo Oklahoma.
Niecsa Camarillo will be the project coordinator for Waurika. She is a member of the student council as the Seventh Grade Class President. Niecsa had wanted to start something similar in Waurika before she heard of the Love Project. In the mean time, Berkeley had approached Waurika and gained approval while Mrs. Jessica Cornelison was attempting to make contact with Berkely because she had seen the project on Facebook. Mrs. Cornelison says it was quite a coincidence that the two came together about the same time.
Berkely would like to see the project reach all the schools in Oklahoma and someday reach schools across the nation.
In order to raise money the project is selling t-shirts and bracelets. All the proceeds are used to purchase feminine hygiene products to be distributed throughout the schools. There will also be an Amazon wish list to allow local support of the Waurika schools project. Other fund raising efforts will be announced in the near future.
On Facebook search for “Love.Project” for more information.
Click the link below to help support the Waurika Love.Project!
