During the Christmas period, I bought about roughly $25 worth of groceries and donated it to my local NGO (non-government organisation) food collection, however among the groceries I made sure to buy two packets of regular pads. At first, I was uncertain if the food collection organisation would accept my donation, but I worried for nothing.
The volunteer I spoke to about it told me that most people didn’t think about donating sanitary items. My local food collection agency apparently gets lots of baby clothes, nappies and other assorted baby items over the Christmas period but a short supply of sanitary items.
Now I’m not doing this to pat myself on the back or to tell people how great I am, I almost didn’t buy the items in question, I figured they either wouldn’t accept these items or that they didn’t need them. This is not the case, in fact, these items are very much needed. But there’s also something else to consider, it may even be a better choice to stop buying food altogether:
I want to make myself clear on this, I’m not saying people should stop donating food to charity events or organisations, if that’s what you want to do, then go right ahead, however, I just want to raise awareness that perhaps there may be a better way of doing things.
This is why I want to raise awareness of a charity that helps homeless people in a super important way, and that is The Melbourne Period Project. The objective of The Melbourne Period Project is to provide care, support and sanitary products for homeless women and transgender men.
The Melbourne Period Project is hoping to get 100 people to sponsor a homeless person, this can be done by donating sanitary products and bringing it to the closest Drop-Off Location available, or you can donate $5 and the organisation will purchase the product on your behalf.
One of the great things about The Melbourne Period Project is how they provide these packages. These packs will come in 4 different varieties and each will have extras such as disposable scented bags, wipes, gloves and hand sanitizer. These are the various packages available:
~Sunflower Pack – 25 Super tampons, 5 Super pads + extras.
~Rose Pack – 25 Regular tampons, 5 Regular pads + extras
~Poppy Pack – A mix of Pads only + extras
~Tulip Pack – A mix of tampons only + extras
~Hemlock Pack – For Transgender Men – Personalised + extras.
I plan on finding a drop off point and donating a couple of packets of regular pads, however I have also realised it’s easier and less expensive to make a donation (a $5 donation versus a packet of pads or tampons + liners which could cost between $7 to $15), so I’ll be making a donation this month as well.
I encourage as many people to donate as possible, but I also know that may be difficult for some people and that’s okay too, but if you could share the message around and let people know that this is a problem and that there’s an organisation out there willing to help with said problem, I’d really appreciate it.
Links:
~The Melbourne Period Project – They also have a Facebook page, Twitter account and an Instagram
~Homeless Of Melbourne – They also have a Facebook page, a Twitter account and an Instagram
~Period Panties – They also have a Kickstarter
I Tried These Period Panties So You Don’t Have To by Sarah Burton
Ambiguous Pieces 