Perhaps you've been following my esteemed colleague Heidi Groover's coverage of Seattle's homelessness crisis. Maybe you've read my other esteemed colleague Jen Graves's articles about artist and activist Martha Rosler swooping into Seattle and encouraging artists to start organizing to fight homelessness. If you haven't, then go read all that stuff and come right back here.
If you just got done reading all that stuff, then you should be pumped to act. One thing you can do is donate menstrual products. "There's always that need," says Rick Crawford, the developmental manager over at Peace for the Streets by Kids from the Streets, an organization that, according to their mission statement, "support[s] homeless and at-risk youth."
"We've found that one of the biggest things nobody thinks about are these really basic survival hygiene products," Crawford continued. "We get lots of deodorant and toothbrushes, but very few people think about menstrual products, which are really hard to access when you're on the streets."
Crawford said that right now there are a lot of young, homeless women, and that in general PSKS has seen that number increase over the year he's been there. All Cycles, an outreach project based in Seattle, is dedicated to securing and finding ways to distribute menstrual products to the people who need them. So far, the young outreach program has been pretty effective.
Liz Andrade, a co-founder of All Cycles, told me that during their inaugural drive last fall the program brought in 5,000 pads and tampons, 2,000 body wipes, and over 70 pairs of underwear for Seattle folks in need. The beneficiary for that drive was YouthCare. They did a mini-drive for Mary's Place during the holiday season and brought in 5,232 tampons, 3,055 pads, 155 pantyliners, and 1,736 body wipes. At the end of their current donation drive, which runs through February 20th, All Cycles will give the donations to PSKS.
To that end: On Saturday, the folks at All Cycles are throwing The Red Party at Common AREA Maintenance down in Belltown. Show up. Wear red. Bring a box of tampons, pads, wet wipes, pantyliners and cotton underwear of all sizes and styles. Bring cash for the raffle. There will be prizes courtesy of Oddfellows Cafe, Fremont Coffee Co., Sin in Linens, Babeland, Central Cinema, among others. There will also be cake.
Aside from being a good person, there are other incentives to go. Booze will be available from Counterbalance Brewing Company. DJBlazon Stone will...ya know...DJ. And of course there's gonna be a photo booth.
Already have plans on Valentine's Day weekend but still want to donate? Then stop by any one of these locations and drop off your goods.
