Earth Day Festival

By Sophia Nam

My Two Cents had our first experience in going out in our community to raise awareness on period poverty and the negative effects of disposable pads in our environment! We had 3 booths at our station. One was for selling packages of pre-handmade reusable pads in a variety of designs with a pouch and manual on how to maintain them, including washing directions. Another was for selling hand-made eco-tote bags and small pouches with a complimentary gift of a DIY (do it your own) reusable pad kit. At our third booth, we interacted with kids with a button-making activity, where kids would draw their designs on pieces of paper which were transformed into pins, and gave temporary tattoos as well. During this time, when kids were focused on their creativity, we explained our mission and our reusable pads to parents and guardians, along with a brochure, on who we are and what we do.

At first, I was nervous about how successful our booth would be. I felt uneasy about attracting customers and people to listen to our mission and engage with us, but it turned out to be a great day! It was really fun explaining our organization to others and hearing feedback on the community’s thoughts on period poverty. I loved holding conversations with other non-profit organization members who were interested in collaborating with us and learning from their past experiences on reaching out to communities and supporting one another. From a survey we asked adults, we also found out that not many people knew about reusable pads and were skeptical of their practicality. So, one of our new goals is to educate the younger generation on reusable menstruation pads so that they will start to become an accepted form of feminine hygiene products. The benefits of reusable pads are that not only will they help with period poverty, but they will also help our environment with less pollution of plastic and health the skin irritation that is often caused by disposable pads. We look forward to more community-engaged events, so please continue to support us and look out for our future outreaches!