Donate Pads

Pads for Days For Girls

2011-08-30T19:25:00.000+10:00

Just a small donation this time, as I'm a bit flat out. But I sent 25 sets of a PUL/Microfleece base with 2 bamboo fleece inserts, to Days for Girls.

Pads for Cambodia

2011-06-06T23:32:00.000+10:00

Last week I sent off a package of 50 pads for this group - http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=150098938388763. Thanks to the wonderful fabrics I got donated to me, I was able to make them bamboo velour topped foldup pads - lush!

Pads sent!

2011-05-05T13:04:00.000+10:00

The pads are posted!

With the wetbags and packaging it actually cost $143.55 to post, so we have $10 leftover for the next postage.

Here's the customs form and receipt

(I had to post other things the same day, but this one is shown on the top of the receipt)

Postage raised!

2011-04-27T10:01:00.000+10:00

Wow, thank you to the people who contributed postage overnight! We've raised an extra $55 - so we have more than needed to post these pads (assuming I weighed it correctly)

I'll sew up some PUL wetbags to add to the package today, and post it off either today or tomorrow.

Pads ready to post!

2011-04-26T19:10:00.002+10:00

I've made 142 pads for Empower Women in Africa, and they are ready to go - I just need help raising money to cover the postage.

They are in 2 sizes. There are about 12 AIO pads, the rest are about half and half fold-up pads and base+insert pads. Some of the foldup pads are flannel/flannelette (8 layers when folded), some are heavier ones made with hemp fleece and cotton terry. All fold-up pads have a strip of PUL sewn to the foldup section so that it is waterproofed once folded. The base+insert pads have a base of PUL topped with microfleece, with 2 hemp/bamboo fleece inserts each pad.

There is just over 4.5kg of pads... which will cost AUD$138.60 to post. So far in donations I have $85... plus the $13 left over from last donation... So I need another $40. You can help out by making a contribution here http://www.obsidianstar.com.au/product/1105 (If we manage to get over the amount needed, it will be saved for the next lot of donations)

I'd also like to thank Bamboo Fabric Store, for sending me a large bag of bamboo fabrics last week, including lovely bamboo velour, terry and fleece! The bamboo has made lovely inserts for the base+insert pads - LUSH!

Donation project update

2011-04-18T15:27:00.001+10:00

So.. I've been making some pads and spreading the word that pads are needed for a conference in Namibia. So far I have 100 pads sewn up. More to come. Most foldup pads (with PUL waterproofing), and some base+help fleece inserts.... with more cut out ready to sew.

(Pad stack)

(Microfleece topped, PUL bases, with trifold hemp terry inserts)

(Fold-up pads... jersey topped, with hemp fleece foldup section, with PUL strip)

I've just got a large box of mostly PUL (also some velour, suedecloth, microfleece, snaps and threads!) from Nappies Covered - which was fantastic! I've also got some fabrics donated from other people which is greatly appreciated too! I've even got $60 in donations for covering the postage, which is an excellent start - I think I'll need around $120-130, so I will still need some help covering the postage. You can contribute to the postage here, by "buying" some postage :)

Update... and New Project!

2011-03-29T18:40:00.000+11:00

Yes, I know, I don't update this very frequently...

I've been making up a few sets of foldup pads... as I've run low on PUL scraps, but got a lot of hemp fleece and flannelette to use... so I've made the foldup pads with strip of PUL to still provide waterproofed pads, but conserving PUL

Putting them in packs of 5, with instructions for use, and a note. To pay for postage to get them to Shanti Uganda, I've been "selling" these packs..... people "buy" them, but instead of them receiving anything, the money to pay to post them to Shanti Uganda. So they are basically sponsoring the pad set... so in the note I include, I say who the pad set is from, giving the person's name.

I was also contacted by a friend who has moved to Papua New Guinea, who wanted some pads for the ladies there. So I sent off a package of Base+insert pads. Not the prettiest - I had orange fabric to use up...

I can't remember how many there were.. 50 I think...

I'd had to stop pad donations, as in Nov or Dec 2010 the US postal service introduced a new fee of $9 for mail sent from Australia to the US (and I'm presuming from other countries too)... supposedly to pay for extra security screening due to terrorist threats... which means a 5 pad set that would normally cost me $10 to post to somewhere like Shanti Uganda, would now cost $19... quite a price hike...

So I need to find non-US based organisations to post to.

Today however, I was contacted by Lori from http://empowerwomeninafrica.com - who needs 225 pads (though more would be great) for a girls conference in Namibia. I told her of the postage issue, and she's going to organise an address to post direct to Namibia, so that will be brilliant.

I already had 30 pads made up (half foldups half base+inserts) - so that's a start... I'll try to make sure they have their 225 by the June deadline, but I'll need to enlist the help of others!

SHE Innovates

2011-03-29T17:29:00.000+11:00

A couple of months ago I contacted SHE to ask if I would be able to donate a portion of my sales (I run a business selling cloth pads) to their project. Since I love the idea of their organisation, and I would like to support them... My aim was to donate $1 from the sale of each pad I sold (transferring it over in the $28 lots).

Unfortunately they declined my offer, saying they weren't interested. I'm really not sure why they refused my offer, I'd have thought every bit they could raise would be a good thing, but apparently my money isn't wanted. Hmmph!

Donation idea

2010-07-21T18:43:00.000+10:00

Someone e-mailed me with a BRILLIANT suggestion.

Women who have passed menopause or are pregnant, and no longer need to buy sanitary products, can set up a little money box and put the money they would spend each month on those products into the box. They can then use that to donate to charities who provide pads to the needy!

Sister Hope no longer accepting pads, and a new charity I found

2010-06-02T21:06:00.003+10:00

Sister Hope have decided to move in a slightly different direction, and instead of taking cloth pad donations, they will now be selling bags and using some of the profits from that to buy pads from Afri-Pads.

"Sis Hope has partnered up with Afri-Pads, a female run initiative in Uganda, to distribute menstrual kits to school girls in need. How will we do that, you ask? Well that is where our one to one model comes in: for every bag you purchase from Sis Hope, we will give away one menstrual kit to a girl in need."

Which is a shame for people who like to sew pads and need places to send them, but understandable given the high cost of postage. They do suggest sending pads to http://www.projectthrive.org

And don't forget, there are other organisations who are still accepting cloth pads - look at the http://www.donatepads.org website for details

Also.... I found http://sheinnovates.com - I urge you to go look at their YouTube video - it's beautiful! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKmt7PwYPCY

Unfortunately they don't take pad donations, but they are asking for $28 donations, which are used for setting women up in pad making businesses - which not only helps the women who makes the pads, by giving her a business to support herself and her family, but it then gets more pads out there so that more women can have pads to use - win win!

Pads are sent! & more charities need pads!!!!

2010-04-30T00:05:00.001+10:00

I bundled up all the pads and wetbags for Sister Hope.

Yes.. they all fit in there! (though trust me, that bag is HUGE) They only *just* fit too... I don't think I could have even squeezed one more in! I put the pads into ziplock bags and basically vacuum sealed them to remove as much air as possible so they packed down flatter (like a "space bag"). Otherwise I'd not have got them in.

I also sent off a batch of breast pads to Shanti Uganda

(it looks pathetically small, but breast pads squash down nice and flat and there were only 8 pairs - still... every one helps!)

and just in case you wanted proof... the receipt.
Excuse the messy handwriting :)

The pad package came to just under 6.5kg - so postage ended up being $121.75 (plus the cost of the bag)... I'd estimated it would weigh over 6.5 kilos and that would have been $130. So we have the choice of either donating the extra to one of the organisations or (what I think is best) saving it to go towards the next lot we post out... since we'll need to do fundraising to get money for that later.... I'll tally up how much we're over shortly (we're still waiting on one of the auction payments) and make a note of that. If anyone has any thoughts on that, feel free to comment.

And I just wanted to say a HUGE thank you to Snaps Australia - I'd asked if they happened to have any scraps lying around, and they sent this large box full of very much needed hemp fleece (for the core of pads), and 2 enormous bags of snaps (and one lot is purple too! {I love purple})

And more pads are needed!!!

I was contacted by an Australian agency (in my state too, handy!)... who said this:

"We are a small AIDS-care charity….and we are working specially in Africa.
We have built several schools in Malawi….and at two of them we have built onsite hostels…to each accommodate 50 teenage girls on site to spare them lengthy and dangerous travel. You may care to visit our website at www.aids.net.au

We are now thinking about their sanitary hygiene needs and wondered whether you assist organizations like out if we choose to buy cloth pads in bulk for them."

So I'll have to get back to them and see what we can do.

And oddly enough, my daughter's school is doing work on different cultures/languages each term, and they are looking at Tanzania this term (it was Italy last term). Apparently they are going to be working on fundraising to help build a school in a remote area. So I sent a quick letter to her teacher explaining that I'm working with organisations to get pads out to girls in schools who need them, and if they find they have a need there, let me know. The teacher spoke to me the other day (pretty excited about it) and is going to bring it up at their next meeting where they are discussing the school stuff... so I'll find out soon if they like the idea or not.

Pads will be shipping out shortly!

2010-04-27T13:02:00.000+10:00

Thank you to the lovely ladies who have donated for the postage! Once payment arrives from the Auctions that went off over the weekend, we will have enough to cover the postage!

I've updated the gauge to show what we currently have, but the auctions will bring us to $4 over target (which will cover packaging and that's the actually donated amount so what I actually received is a bit less than that due to paypal fees)

So hopefully we can get that last lot of money in ASAP and I can get the pads shipped out in the next few days!!!

Pads ready to ship out - we need postage money!

2010-04-22T15:05:00.000+10:00

As much as I'd like to be able to pay it and send these off, I can't do it myself. I've already donated fabric and snaps (as well as time) making them.... So I'm asking... begging!!! please, help out too, by donating some money to help pay for postage.

I've weighed the pads and I believe it's about 6.5-7 kilos once packed. So according to the Australia Post website, that will cost $130 (Australian) to post express to Sister Hope (It's $124 to go non-express, so I think it's worth paying the extra bit to get it there faster).

I've put a little fundraising thermometer picture in the side menu to show our progress, and I'll update it as we get more money in. So far we are at about 10%

So, please look here:

http://au.clothpadshop.com/category.php?SC=35

and contribute in one of 3 ways:

"Buy" one of the postage only pad sets by Obsidian Star (which contributes $10 to the fund-raising)
"Buy" the $5 contribution listing (which you can "buy" more than one of if you'd like to donate $15 for example)....
Bid on the charity auctions (more will be going up later) where the winning bidder gets to keep the pads, and all of the money paid goes to the postage of the donated pads.

Please help us raise the money needed to get these pads sent off ASAP!!!

More Pads!

2010-04-19T19:07:00.001+10:00

We had another sewing day again today...

So now we've got:

52 - (in sets I made, listed on Cloth Pad Shop)
110 - (from "Pad Parties")

50 - donated by Joy

8 - donated by Karen

So we now have (unless I've counted wrong)..... 220 pads!!!

Current Project - Sister Hope

2010-04-17T14:37:00.001+10:00

As mentioned in my last blog post, I'm working on getting as many pads sent to Sister Hope as possible, and I thought I'd keep a running total of what we're doing, and who is helping.

As Sister Hope needs 24 pads by May, we're going to try and make as many as we can!

Pads Made so far:

52 - (in sets I made, listed on Cloth Pad Shop)
58 - (from "Pad Party", with more cut out)

Total = 110

Businesses who have made a contribution:

Twinkle Lily (http://www.twinklelily.com) - Donated several bags worth of fabric
My Name Label (http://www.mynamelabel.com.au) - Donated iron on labels to show absorbency of pads
Red Drop Pads - Donated fabric and pad making
Obsidian Star (me) - Donated a little bit of fabric, and pad making/organising

Long time no blog

2010-04-16T22:42:00.002+10:00

Well, a lot has happened since I last blogged!

Firstly, I've found out about 4 new (to me) organisations that deal with sending cloth pads to women in developing countries!

http://www.huruinternational.org/index.php - HURU is seeking donations of money to help fund cloth pad making programs
http://www.lunapads.com - Lunapads now offers to send your handsewn pads to the "imagine1day" organisation as well as offering a service to buy their pads to donate (it doesn't seem you can donate directly)
http://padsforprison.googlepages.com - Pads for Prisons project. Accepts donations of cloth pads to send to prison inmates and staff in Sudan.
http://www.shantiuganda.org - The Shanti Uganda Society. Accepts donations of cloth pads for aid for women in Uganda, mostly in birthing centres and schools.
http://www.sishope.org - Sister Hope. Accepts donations of cloth pads to make kits for women in developing countries.

Also, with the help of some great customers, we've donated a couple of pad sets to the Shanti Uganda Society

And most recently, I've had some beautiful fabrics donated to me from Twinkle Lily. So far I've sewn up 50 pads and some breast pads that are available in sets on Cloth Pad Shop for postage only. These will be going to the Shanti Uganda Society and Sister Hope.

http://au.clothpadshop.com/category.php?SC=35

(Breast pads for the Shanti Uganda birth kits)

(Cloth Pad Sets. 5 pads with a PUL wetbag)

And this week I had a little "Pad Party" (little because in the end only one other person turned up)... and we made 50 pads, with a few more cut out, and we're meeting again next week to make more. I've also got another lot of donated fabric coming, and I've hopefully inspired 2 other people to hold pad parties, so that's great!!!

Here are a few pics from our pad sewing this week.

(Trusty pad cutter extraordinaire!)

(Pads being sewn)

(Our stack of pads)

(Every pad-maker needs to stop for a Chocolate and Chai tea break!)

More pics next week when we've sewn more! And I've done a bit of reorganising and prettying up the website a little, so please go check it out.

Update

2009-03-14T13:37:00.002+11:00

I know I don't keep this blog up, but there hasn't been much to tell.

I sent off a couple of boxes of collected pads to a women who I had made contact with through Live Journal. Hopefully we can continue to send pads through her.

Melbourne (Australia) has been hit by bushfires over the past few weeks, and as a result many thousands of people have been left with damaged or destroyed houses. I'm currently working on getting together some pad donations to be able to give out to any women who will accept them who have lost their home/possessions due to the fires. While perhaps not as noble a cause as sending to underdeveloped countries - at least it's something.

------

Unfortunately now G4G has closed, we've lost that avenue for getting donated pads out there :( I did offer to maintain the domain and blog for them, and asked for the contact details they had over there so I could continue the work, but I never heard back. Which is a shame.

Lunapads have started up their own pad drive (http://blog.lunapads.com/2009/02/support-cloth-pads-4-girls), but it would seem they are donating their own pads, and not collecting donations from others. I contacted the organisation they are working through (www.imagine1day.org), but they said they were not interested in taking donations at this time (They are working on getting the women to sew their own pads and start up businesses - which is a good thing!).

I have also contacted the other aid organisation mentioned in the Lunapads blog - so just waiting to hear back from them.

If anyone has any contacts or knows of any agencies accepting cloth pads - PLEASE let me know.

Pads are Shipping out!

2008-03-18T00:39:00.002+11:00

YES! finally!!!

I've been in contact with www.goods4girls.org, and I'll be shipping the pad donations I have through them.

I just need to pack them up (find smaller boxes I can post) and I should have them ready to send by the end of the week.

I've also updated the website a little to make the make pads area a bit more obvious and added more to it.

Updates

2008-02-21T00:35:00.002+11:00

I was talking with a woman who does aid in Ghana, and organises pad donations for a maternity hospital there....and I'd decided that it seemed like a good use for our pad donations, but I must have replied too late and missed her before she went over there, so I never got the address to send to :(

But.... I've just found this http://www.goods4girls.org - so I have contacted them, and perhaps we can work out something with them.

Some progress

2007-12-16T01:41:00.000+11:00

I contacted a couple of shelters/organisations that deal with women's shelters, and one got back to me!

http://www.impactforwomen.org.au

They seem keen on the idea of having cloth pad donations, and said they were packing up 150 hampers next wed, and if I'd like to, I could include a cloth pad in each one. One pad isn't going to be helpful, but we've got around 180 sets, so we could give a set to each.... but I'll decline...because:

1). I really wanted to get these overseas to impoverished areas - and that's also what assumption the other donators were working on.

2). Ideally the cloth pads should be given as an option to women in/leaving shelters... because otherwise they are likely to be thrown away and not used. So just putting them in a hamper is probably not the best way to distribute them.

3). I'm still hoping to hear back from Oxfam.

However.... now that I've made contact with them, we might be able to gather donations for them down the track. And to at least have a place to say "if you'd like to donate a few pads, you can contact these people" is great.

I was in an abusive relationship once, and ended up having to leave with only the clothes I was wearing and no money. So to be able to help out women who were in my situation (or worse, since I was able to stay with a relative - some women have nobody) is quite a good cause too.

13/12/07

2007-12-13T12:01:00.000+11:00

Haven't updated in a while - sorry.

I'm still trying to find an agency to take the pads. It seems Counterpart has fallen through. The original woman I was talking to left after we'd got as far as sorting out what country we were going to send to. And the new woman in her role ended up passing my details on to a few other people, and I've not heard back from any of them.

I contacted Gloria (twice) again from the CCRF - but no reply.

I also contacted the original Oxfam contact I'd had - who I basically turned down because they wanted them as relief packages (for tsunamis and the like), and I'd wanted to have them go to women who have everyday needs. I never heard back.

I tried a different, general e-mail address for Oxfam, and no reply... and I've recently tried an e-mail address for someone to do with volunteering - so I'm hoping that will get a reply. Oxfam would be handy, as they have just opened a shop close to me, so I could take the boxes in. But we'll have to see.

I've also contacted a couple of people in regard to women's shelters.... so just waiting to hear back from them.

Its very hard to keep motivated with this when I'm having no luck getting the first lot of donations out :( I'd hoped to be doing a large run each year, but until I find an agency that will take them.... that's not going to happen.

10/9/07

2007-09-10T20:46:00.000+10:00

We've had not much success getting the pads actually sent. Originally we were all set to post off, but our contact at Counterpart left their job, so we've had to start discussions from scratch with the new woman in that role. Who has said that contacting one of the Counterpart agencies closer to Australia would be a better idea than sending to them, and we are now waiting to hear back from them.

The caucus Children's fund was also contacted again, so far no reply.

(I ended up getting ziplockbags donated - so that was at no charge to us)

28/5/07

2007-05-28T20:45:00.000+10:00

The auctions were a great success and we now have plenty of money raised to post off our pads. I've received the pads from the American pad makers and I'm just waiting on a box of pads donated by pleasurepuss, which will add significantly to the number of pads we have. I was given a list of possible countries to send the pads to (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova), but most have restrictions on what you can send - only items for personal use (and clothing for example is limited to only 3 items)... so I'm not sure what we can do about that. I'm waiting to hear back from our contact to see if they have approval or if that will be a problem. Belarus and Moldova didn't have those restrictions, so we can send them there.

I've added iron on labels to the waterproofed AIO pads (To show their absorbency), which were kindly donated by www.mynamelabel.com and I'm starting to package up the pads in bundles that can be given to each woman at the other end. I've realised I didn't include washing instructions in my instructions, so I'm redoing them.

We may have to purchase ziplock bags to put the individual bundles of pads in.... I think tying them with ribbon/twine will be harder to hand out and bits may fall out, and with ziplock bags the air can be squeezed out to compact the bundles and take up less space. I can buy them at about 20c a bag though, which is the cheapest option for packaging - even though it is not the best enironmentally (though they can be reused).

Pad tally:
190 pads made by me (and I've got some more belted pads to sew up)... AIO, belted, base + insert & pocket styles
100 AIO pads donated by Lily pads (Aus)
31 AIO pads donated by Kirsten (Aus)
52 base + insert pads donated by Lori (Aus)
5 AIO pads donated by (I've forgotten!) (Aus)
31 AIO pads donated by Cathy
5 Base + Insert pads donated by (Unknown) (USA)
16 base + Insert pads donated from (unknown) (USA)
13 inserts donated by (unknown) (USA)

Total: 443

{1 box (100-200) of Pleasurepuss AIO pads on its way...}

+ Pads collected in New Zealand

11/4/07

2007-04-11T20:41:00.000+10:00

We have been doing some auctions through www.buyena.com, where several businesses have donated cloth pads and even a nappy and longies set, to be auctioned off to raise the postage money we need. There has been a great number of bidders, which is excellent! There are still a few more things coming, including a large set of various brands of pad for people to try!

There is also a couple of banners you can use to link back to here if you'd like to raise awareness on your website or forum signature. To see more, please go to the What Can you Do page

21/3/07

2007-03-21T20:40:00.000+11:00

We have a few more postage donations, but still not enough to pay for the postage. So we will be holding some auctions where businesses and individuals are donating products to auction off to raise the money we need.

I will give more details about when this will happen when it is organised. I expect about 2-3 weeks time. In the meantime, if you would like to donate something to auction off (cloth pads or cloth nappies typically), please let me know

21/2/07

2007-02-21T20:38:00.000+11:00

The First pad donation should have been wrapped up by now, but we're running a bit behind with the sewing.... but that's ok because we don't have anywhere near enough money donations to cover the postage... so we can't send them until we have that anyway :(

I currently have here 263 pads...our NZ contact has 119 pads... and pad donations have started arriving at our USA contact.

We desperately need postage donations though. So if you know anyone who would be interested in helping out, there is a donation button on the current projects page (or you can send money to the paypal account donate@donatepads.org)

We've also been contacted by a woman with family in Zimbabwe, who is very interested in getting cloth pad donations sent there, so this may mean we have an ongoing way to make contact ourselves....