Dear all the bloody bloody babes,
It’s always a bit weird thinking about our achievements for the year, when the more we achieve and do, usually means, the worse state the world is in. The fact that we’ve managed to take care of over 20,000 periods this year just means that there would’ve been at least 2,000 people without the resources or welfare support to deal with them, without us. And this is not OK. Access to period care is a matter of human rights, and not something a small charity should be relied upon to deal with. And yet, here we are - fucking furious, but still loving the work we do.
In fact, right now I’m writing this, sitting on the floor of the Help Refugees Choose Love shop in Covent Garden, where we’re doing a gorge Festive Period pop up, selling Light, Medium and Heavy flows. Don’t forget you can still contribute to our Festive Period campaign by heading here. Contributing to this campaign means that you’ll be helping us exist for another year, campaigning for menstrual equity, normalising periods, and of course, making sure that we help get those pads into those pants!
Existing means that we also get to meet brilliant people and do exciting projects. In fact, could there be a better time to announce that in 2020 we will be launching our reusable period product sessions with the people we work with! Thanks to some very special funders, we are delighted to be able to bring the options of menstrual cups and other reusables to women and people who menstruate who are refugees or seeking asylum in the UK. Right from the beginning, we always said that we would not pressure anyone into using alternative methods without active enthusiasm to do so. And thanks to our burgeoning education programme, we’ve been able to have those conversations, led by the women we work with. We’ll let you know how we progress so keep your eyes peeled!
Of course, another festive period could not go by without a HUWOWGE thank you to our incredible volunteers. I’m constantly blown away by how engaged, dedicated and passionate our amazing team of time-givers are. From packing pads in the storage centre, to womanning stands at events, to creating bloody gorgeous art, we simply could not function without them, and we’re all the better for having them along for the journey.
And of course, the very exciting news… we got bloody charity status! After nearly two years in application, we finally got that special little number… registered Charity no 1185849 if you’re interested!
A massive THANK YOU to each and every one of your for your bleeding support - it is very much, wholeheartedly appreciated. We have LOADS of bloody exciting stuff coming up in 2020 and we can’t wait to share it all with you. For now, though, we are off to take a little break, soak up some bloody love and recharge our activist batteries, cos we are gonna be needing *all* the energy and fire we can muster next year. We hope you’ll do the same and we’ll see you, raring to go, in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, have a BLOODY WONDERFUL FESTIVE PERIOD.
All the love to you and yours,
Gabby and Team BGP xxx
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