Homeless Care Club partners with nonprofit retailer in feminine hygiene initiative
LOOK! Junior Peyton Gilhart and senior Jodie Lawson gesture to the promotional banner that HCC has hung in the Commons. Club members came together after school to design and paint the banner. Students– or anyone interested– can come to TTV’s Harper’s Point Location from 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. for the “Sip and Shop” event advertised here. “Students should participate in this fundraiser because of the benefits it brings to homeless women in Cincinnati and the global benefits of Ten Thousand Villages,” said HCC general officer Tabitha Cady, 11.
Founded in 1946, Ten Thousand Villages (TTV) is a fair trade, eco-conscious non-profit social enterprise that works with small, independent artisan groups to bring their goods to stores like the organization’s Harper’s Point location.
By selling these handcrafted goods in larger markets, TTV helps the artisans who made them earn income. The products are constructed in countries like Burkina Faso, the Philippines, Ecuador, Bangladesh, Peru, Colombia, Nepal, Vietnam, Zimbabwe, and Egypt.
This Harper’s Point store, which can be found in the corner of the shopping center (straight back from deSha’s tavern), is the location where SHS’s Homeless Care Club (HCC) will hold its fundraiser on Fri., Dec. 15 from 3-8 p.m.
During this time, HCC will receive a portion of sales made to customers who mention the club to the cashier while making their purchases.
“Homeless Care Club is participating in a fundraiser with Ten Thousand Villages because of the similar goal both organizations have: to help the community,” said HCC general officer Tabitha Cady, 11, who volunteers at TTV and organized the event.
All money gleaned from the event will be used to purchase feminine hygiene products that will be distributed to people experiencing homelessness in Cincinnati.
HCC is holding this event in coordination with TTV during this time the holiday season because many of the retailer’s products make for thoughtful and unique gifts.
TTV sells everything from Guatemalan worry dolls (handcrafted in Guatemala) to Dead Sea mud soap (handmade in Israel) to hacky sacks (handmade in Guatemala) to necklaces made by hand in places like Cambodia, Niger, India, and Indonesia.
“Ten Thousand Villages values the person [the artisan] over the product and aims to better their current life and to prepare them for their future,” Cady said.
Remember: any purchase made at the event will not only help working people in developing countries feed, house, keep healthy, and educate themselves and their families, but will help “menstruators” experiencing homelessness in Cincinnati stay clean and maintain their dignity.
If for nothing else, HCC invites you to attend the event for the light refreshments that will be offered. Maybe something on the shelves (or in your full-sized aortic pump) will entice you.
“People spend a lot of money around the holiday season, and it’s important to stop and think about where those gifts are coming from, and whether what you purchase has the ability to really make a difference,” Cady said.
