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Pads for People is four St. John's friends (Lauren Smee, Rosie Myers, Taylor Stocks, and Meghan Hollett) who were concerned about the challenges of dealing with poverty and periods at the same time. Lauren was listening to the CBC one day and heard this segment about menstruation and homelessness and wondered if she could do something to help. When she found out her friends felt the same way, Pads for People was born.
Menstruation is expensive. Our very rough estimate is that it costs the average menstruating person about $50 per year to care for their period. For people with heavy flow this can be much higher. For people living in poverty or experiencing homelessness, the costs can be unmanageable. One person interviewed in the CBC piece said that for her and her three daughters the cost was as much as $90 per month. She told a story of having to miss an opportunity to go to a job-training program because she was bleeding and didn't have any menstrual products. So for her the cost of her period was even higher.
One additional challenge is that most traditional menstrual products are disposable. For people experiencing homelessness or poverty this means there is a constant monthly (or sometimes nearly hourly!) need for more pads or tampons. But there are reusable products on the market, such as menstrual cups, cloth pads, and absorbent underwear, many of which can be used for years, ending the constant monthly search. In the long run reusable products cost less, but the up-front cost is higher so for menstruators living in poverty they're not an option.
Pads for People aims to raise $2500 throughout the month of December. With this money, we will buy a variety of menstrual supplies - both reusable and disposable - to donate to food banks and shelters in St. John's and across the island that make their products available to people in need.
With $2500, we would be able to provide a year's worth of disposable products to 50 menstruating people in NL. Or we could provide 600 people with one month's worth of products each. Or we could provide 62 people with a reusable product such as a menstrual cup, a pair of absorbant undies, or a set of cloth pads. Our plan is to use whatever money we raise- whether it's under or over our goal- to buy a range of products so people have lots of options.
So this is where we need your help! Any amount you can donate will help menstruators of St. John's and across NL to care for their periods so they can turn their attention and their finances to more important things.
Thanks so much!
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