Well 2021 was a year we would all like to forget and to leave behind. However, hopefully, we will all have learned more about our strengths that we were not aware of before the pandemic. I think that most of us thought that we would have reached the end of the year pandemic free but it is obviously not the case.
With this in mind we have to move forward in a more cautionary way than expected but it will not stop us from doing our core work of supplying our charity partners with period products and hygiene products. We are still not able to proceed with our workshops with schools and organisations in the way we had anticipated but thank heavens for Zoom.
2021 saw us move forward with our campaign to raise awareness of the environmental factors surrounding single use period products and to encourage more women and girls to try reusable products, such as pads, pants and menstrual cups. To this effect we have been giving away packs of products to dozens of people to trial them and report back to us on their thoughts. This has proven to be really encouraging and a large majority of “triallers” have reported back very favourably and will continue to use these products. We will be working on this campaign throughout 2022 and have the funding in place to be able to supply many more women and girls with the product which is best fitted to their personal preferences.
2021 also saw the fruition and publication of our book “All Things Periods” and we held a launch evening at The New Vic Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent where people travelled many miles to attend (Spain being the furthest away) and we would like to take this opportunity of thanking all the contributors to the book which, if we say so ourselves, is looking quite cool.
However, the year has mainly been spent on continuing with our work supplying charities, foodbanks and organisations with period products to support the work they do with the most vulnerable in our society. Again, as the previous year, the demand on our support has grown and grown and we can still say, with pride, that we have never turned any organisation down and, hopefully, we will always be able to say the same.
Let’s hope that 2022 brings some normality back to our lives and eventually we can also say that period poverty does not exist any more and that we, at Period Power, can take a well earned rest.