“We are the dawn, the first light in the morning sky, we are the beginning of new blooms, the evidence that love has taken root and is at home among us.”

(excerpted from Today by Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson)

Dear Friends,

As I assembled period packs with you at the Indiana Convention Center on July 2, I was reminded that advocating for menstrual justice is both a global and local concern, with numbers that are startling. Globally, an estimated 500 million people do not have access to menstrual hygiene products. Locally, out of the 16.9 million women that menstruate in the U.S, two-thirds of them cannot afford the menstrual products.

There are also racial disparities here in the U.S. A study by the Alliance for Period Supplies found that when asked, 23% of Blacks and 24% of Latinx with periods strongly agreed that they’ve struggled to afford menstrual hygiene products.

Your overwhelming support for the Period Packs Service Project at General Synod 34 helped us to exceed our goal. Because of you, we were able to deliver 4,257 period packs to Church World Service (CWS) warehouses for distribution to menstruating people with limited funds and/or access to menstrual hygiene products.

This was a highly collaborative effort, in partnership with Church World Service. Helping hands from General Synod delegates and guests, national UCC staff, 2 youth groups (Youth @ Synod and First Christian Church, Zanesville, OH), 2 seminarian interns with Global HOPE and several CWS volunteers were on-site to assemble and pack the kits for shipping.

To date, your generous financial gifts totaled $23,917 with donations from individuals and churches, United Church Homes, United Church Funds, Council for Health and Human Service Ministries (CHHSM), the UCC Insurance Board and a matching grant of $7,000 from Church World Service. Global HOPE awarded matching grants to 22 churches, across 14 Conferences, which resulted in 922 period packs.

Thank you for the many ways you supported this General Synod Service Project.

May our continued work together toward menstrual justice bear witness to … the evidence that love has taken root and is at home among us.

Peace,

Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia A. Thompson

General Minister and President

United Church of Christ