Board Member Spotlight | Eva Marie Carney (USF `79)

Board Secretary Eva Marie Carney founded The Kwek Society in 2018, in response to the shocking rate of period poverty among Native American students, especially those living in rural areas. The Kwek Society is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt charity that provides moon time bags (bags sewn by supporters, filled with period pads) along with educational materials, pads, tampons, and underwear to Native American students without ready access to these expensive menstrual supplies. The Kwek Society also supports and trumpets the successes of Native Americans, fulfills their other material needs as its funds and time allow, and works to raise awareness of the inequities experienced by the students they help. “Kwe’k” means “women” in the Potawatomi language. Eva is a dual citizen of the United States and the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, a sovereign nation with a central government situated on lands held in trust by the federal government in Oklahoma. She serves on the Nation’s Legislature in an elected position in which she represents her fellow citizens in 13 Mid-Atlantic and southern U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Her “day job” is working as a human rights attorney with the Annandale, Virginia-based immigration law firm Just Neighbors.