Deby Marx-Cowdin, Shawna Hofstetter, Teresa Andreani, Jeanine Gergel (Development Director for North Coast Health Ministry)
In November 2009, I had the opportunity to tour Lakewood Christian Service Center's facility with the Lakewood Rocky River Sunrise Rotary Club. A couple of us women noticed that while they offered toilet paper, there were no women's feminine hygiene products. We learned that these are not considered necessities and could not be purchased with government assistance.
I met Shawna Hofstetter and Deby Marx-Cowdin in December 2009 on the Tour of Good Cheer, an annual charity run organized by Lakewood resident Dick Clough that for 26 years has taken clothes, toys, etc. to Cleveland's neediest. I shared the story of my visit to LCSC and Shawna & Deby wanted to join in to do something about it. We met for coffee a few weeks later.
Our vision was to create Towers of Tampons and Pyramids of Pads (T2P2) while bringing interesting women together to socialize and network. Our tagline -- changing women's lives one tampon at a time -- is a little silly, but it sums up what we're about. We're not changing the world, but hopefully we're making some women a little more comfortable a few days a month.
Every other month, we gather at a local restaurant for a prix fixe dinner -- $20/head + the donation of tampons and/or pads. Once a woman attends a dinner, she can invite a friend to the next one.
Restaurant hosts have included: 56 West, Grumpy's and Latitude 41n. We also held a benefit in December at the Lake Erie Screw Factory.
Agencies who have benefited include: North Coast Health Ministry, Transitional Housing Inc., the Domestic Violence Center, Laura's Home, Lakewood Christian Service Center, Redeemer Community Center, South Pointe (Housing First Transitional Housing), and Community Women's Shelter.
To date we have distributed a total of 6167 tampons and 6473 pads. Wow!!
It's been an amazing venture! I've made new friends in Shawna and Deby and the countless other women who have joined our cause!
We are presently applying to be a 501 (c) (3) with the hope of creating a toolkit that will help other like-minded people in other cities to start their own chapters.
I was invited to this event by Shawna, and Carol Hunt, and damn was it fun with good
food for a great cause.
As Teresa phrased it, "Wonder what 600+ tampons and pads looks like? Tonight's T2P2
tower at 56 West! Goods heading to North Coast Health Ministry!" This came about when
the planners found out that no one was willing to cover the cost of feminine hygiene
products as they are not seen a necessities by the government.
I love it when good people get together to help others and this crowd was just spectacular!
Full house at 56 West to help out a good cause.
Thanks to all for the support.
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