What is your project?

Lopez: Nietzsche Deuel and I are having a fundraiser to raise money for feminine hygiene products for the homeless in Minneapolis.

Deuel: We’re trying to raise money to help provide feminine hygiene products for homeless women in Minneapolis. We are raising money through selling t-shirts on this fundraiser website called Bonfire. The cool thing about Bonfire is 100% of the profit goes to your campaign so part of the cost of the shirt when you buy is the production cost but then everything after that goes to your campaign.

What inspired this project?

Lopez: We are in the IB Diploma and we are required to do a CAS (creativity, activity, service) project and so Nietzsche was actually the one that approached me she was like “hey, do you wanna do this project together” and I had heard of problems like this occuring in the homeless communities.

Deuel: About a year ago I watched this video on YouTube and basically what it went through was a few homeless women who described what it’s like to have their period while they are homeless. I thought that was really terrible. Periods aren’t an option and it shouldn’t be an option to not take care of them. One of the things they talked about is sometimes they have to make the decision: should they buy a box of tampons or should they get food for the night. I think that is horrific and cruel and so that’s what inspired me to want to help raise money to provide feminine hygiene products for homeless women.

What goal do you hope to accomplish through this project?

Lopez: Making a difference is our main goal. To think that we can help someone out, even if it’s just for a day, we make them feel a little more comfortable especially in times when they don’t feel like they have anything.

Deuel: If we sell at least 50 shirts, we can get around $250 of profit which will all go to buying feminine hygiene products.

How are your personally connected to the issue?

Lopez: I’m a girl so obviously I have a period so I definitely can’t image how uncomfortable it would be to not have hygienic products.

Deuel: First of all I am a woman. That connects all of us. Periods suck just in general. I think of how much people complain about the tax that’s on feminine hygiene products and how unnecessary it is but I take it a step further and think about the people who can’t afford to buy it at all. Tax is part of that but the fact that they have to choose between dinner or a box of tampons, I think that that’s really awful.

What inspired the design of the shirts?

Lopez: We are going to be handing out the products in Minneapolis so we wanted something to do with Minneapolis as a whole and we wanted to display our message of feminine hygiene products, why we’re doing this fundraiser in the first place, so we decided that we would have the Minneapolis skyline and subtly put in a message for our design. We have a white building which represents a tampon with a little string at the end with Minneapolis at the front as well so it’s subtle but we have our message there as well.

How do you plan to distribute the products to women in need?

Deuel: I’m going to reach out to a shelter in Minneapolis to see when would be a good time for me to drop them off. My fundraiser will end on January 26th. I am hoping to have an event at the Nest on Thursday the 24th after finals and it would be around 2:00. It would be a game night so people can come and play games after finals. I’m hoping that that event will be our last thing and I will announce how many shirts we have sold and how much of a difference we will be able to make.

What do you hope to convey to recipients through this project?

Deuel: I want them to know that we are concerned about their well being because while we might not know them personally, we are all connected through something. Whether it be that we all live in Minneapolis, that we’re women whatever it may be that connects us. I want them to feel like someone cares about them. I want them to know that they don’t have to do things in a really terrible way.