20% of all sales will be donated to Period Pals, allowing us to hopefully bring menstrual products to local county jails and Texas state prisons in addition to Title 1 middle schools and high schools in our area. There is also an online code that is active starting December 16th and will remain active until December 17th at midnight. All of the information is on our splash page. There will also be a donation box if you would like to make physics donations. Shop online for your last minute holiday gifts or visit us in store!
**Use code GIVEBACK-BFUCQ at checkout to donate 20% of your purchase to period pals**
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On March 6, 2021 Period Pals had a virtual letter writing party with our volunteers to showcase our voices and support for the passing of HB 321 which proposes a sales tax exemption on feminine hygiene products in Texas. The Period Pals team organized a list of fast facts, names of legislatures who had not previously shown support for the passing of HB 321, their contact information, and information on the legislative process in order to prepare for this event. There are three main ways period pals aim to help Period Poverty in Austin: Education, Advocacy, and Service. This was our first time working with advocacy as an organization. There are many ways that advocacy can be used to help Period Poverty but for this Letter Writing Party we used our voices by contacting the Texas Legislature. At the party, our volunteers wrote handwritten and typed letters to a representative of their choice to voice their concerns about not passing HB 321, and why the state should pass it. Our team had a blast at the event watching and hearing what our volunteers wrote!  Scotland has become the FIRST country to make period products free! As you can imagine, this is huge news. Period Poverty is an issue that is experienced by millions across the world and this is a huge step in the right direction. First, if you are not sure what period poverty is, period poverty is a global challenge, where menstruating individuals cannot afford or do not have access to proper menstrual products for their period. Period Poverty specifically targets poor and homeless women, girls, transgender, and non-binary individuals. Many states in the United States and other countries across the globe continue to impose a tax on menstrual products which makes them even more of a luxury for these targeted groups. This is why, it is huge news that Scotland has made the products free. Many states are working on just removing the tampon tax, let alone making them entirely free. The Period Products (Free Provision)(Scotland) Bill ensures that anyone who needs period products will get them, by law. Even before this amazing step, Scotland had already made efforts to end period poverty in their country by making period products free in schools, colleges, and universities. Source  On December 6, 2020 Period Pals had their first big event! Starting the organization during the pandemic made it very difficult to plan hands on, in person events. We decided to have a socially distanced Packing Party where volunteers helped make packages for homeless women in need of menstrual products. There was a huge turnout and we were able to make 275 packages to distribute.
At the event itself, we had 5 or 6 stations each containing a different step in the process to make these bags. Station one was bag decorating where volunteers put cute drawings and messages on the bag. Then they went through the process of assembling the bags at the other stations. We also made custom stickers with our logo on it to put on all the bags.
Just prior to to the event we knew we needed to have a designated place that all the packages were going to go to. We called multiple local homeless shelters and women's organizations. Many of them were just in need of bulk products not individually packaged bags. This was discouraging at first, but we continued calling and Foundation For the Homeless was interested in receiving all of our bags! The event was lots of fun and it gave our volunteers an opportunity to interact with each other in person and help the Austin community! A successful first event has us hopeful for many more packing parties in the future! For more information about Foundation For the Homeless click here! |
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