What can you do to help?

If this is a cause you would like to get involved in, there are various things you can do.

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Join the Yahoogroup
We have a yahoogroup where people can discuss pad donating efforts and make contacts to get donations sent where they are needed. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/donatepads
 

Purchase pads that will be donated
Goods 4 Girls started the project of getting cloth pad making businesses to sell pad packs which would then be sent directly to G4G to be distributed in Africa.  This was a great opportunity for those who could not sew, and didn't want to donate just money.  While they have now closed, there are some businesses which still offer this.

• http://donatepads.clothpadshop.com - Cloth Pad Shop offers occasional pad donation sets.
• http://www.lunapads.com/ -  Lunapads offers to accept cash donations as well as pad donation sets.

Donate Money
Most agencies, orphanages, shelters etc. accept monetary donations, which are put towards all needs - including menstrual products.  Usually they buy disposable menstrual products, however there are a few who deal with reusable products.  You can donate this directly to the agencies, which you can find on the Donate page. In most cases there is no way to ensure your particular donation is used to purchase menstrual products (and not to administration or other purchases), however they will be greatful for your donation and every little bit helps.

Sew some pads
If you can sew, and would like to make cloth pads to donate, you can sew these up and post them to the agency itself.  Most agencies may prefer to receive one large shipment of pads than several smaller ones, and it is quite difficult to find agencies that accept cloth pad donations, so that is why we are working on getting a network of people who will collect donated pads and send them on to the aid organisations in larger batches. The Donate page has information on any agencies that will accept cloth pads.  We currently know of these agencies that will accept pad donations.
 
• http://www.shantiuganda.org- The Shanti Uganda Society.  Accepts donations of cloth pads for aid for women in Uganda.
• http://padsforprison.googlepages.com - Pads for Prisons project.  Accepts donations of cloth pads to send to prison inmates and staff in Sudan.
• http://www.lunapads.com/ -  Lunapads offers to send your handsewn pads as well as offering a service to buy their pads to donate


Donate fabric
If you would like to donate cloth that is suitable to making into cloth pads, there are organisations that accept fabric donations that go to making cloth pads.  Find these on the Donate page.  We may also be able to help you make contact with someone willing to take your fabric and sew it into pads to donate.

Donate Underpants
Now all of the women who need menstrual product donations will have underpants to wear them with. This page has more information, but if you are making/buying cloth pads to donating, you may want to consider including underpants too.  If you would like to donate just underpants, then most aid organisations would be very happy to have these items donated.

Donate Unused products
If you've switched to reusable products and still have supplies of disposable ones, you can donate those to any aid organisations that will accept them.  Try the organisations listed in the Links and Donate pages.  You may also choose to purchase products to then donate (if so, you may like to consider donating organic cotton tampons instead of rayon ones, to limit the risk of TSS).

Donate Used products
There may be an agency who will accept donations of unwanted used products, such as menstrual cups or cloth pads.  We are looking into this, but it may not be possible for health reasons (Unless we are able to start something up ourselves)
 

Spread awareness
Another way you can help is to spread awareness (of this website or the cause in general) to other women.  The more women who know, the more help can be given to those in need.  There are 2 banners you can use to link back to this site if you wish.  To save the image, right click and select "Save As" to save it to your computer.  Please don't link directly to them from here (in case the server changes).  Please link them back to www.donatepads.org