Getting Our Ducks in a Row

It’s almost Menstrual Hygiene Day (MHD). I remember years ago, when we were just starting this project, mentioning that our next event would be on MHD and our friend Ginger said, “great that will make it easy to remember.” We all laughed so hard. Now, I’m hoping the day is better known.

This year we are asking people to hold house parties in honor of MHD. We’d like everyone to see some of the movies that highlight menstruation or girls’ empowerment. We’d like the evening to be fun and as simple or complex as you’d like. Add some food or drink if you want and just enjoy yourselves. You are the host! Make it the evening you want! If you are unable to host your own MoonVie please consider making a donation to our MHD Campaign instead. Every dollar counts!

I will be hosting a potluck dinner and showing The Queen of Katwe, a sweet film about a 10-year-old girl growing up in Uganda. I’ll ask my friends for donations and help raise the $10,000 we need by May 28 (MHD).

Thanks to everyone who showed up last month to help me celebrate my birthday and our annual Birthday Bash and first time ever Art Show. Many thanks to TARA KITCHEN for co-hosting our event and acting as a drop-off point for menstrual supplies. Also thanks to CREATE Community Studios for providing the space for our event. We had a lot of fun, collected nearly 9,000 menstrual supplies and raised a little money!

Thanks are also in order for all of the volunteers who came to three MoonBees over the last month. We worked with folks from Faith Methodist Church in Schenectady, Macedonia Baptist Church in Albany and the residents of the Glen Eddy. If you or your organization would like to host a MoonBee, a presentation or a menstrual supply drive, please contact us at mooncatcherproject@gmail.com.

Charlotte and I have been busy fine-tuning our curriculum with the assistance of a lovely man in Colorado. Thanks Phil! We have been rewriting the text to read better (thank you Misha for the edits). We have tried to simplify the content and now have bullet points for teachers to use. We have also developed a guide for MoonBee facilitators to use when they give presentations.

We continue to improve and streamline the huge task of data collection. We’ve been meeting with two data geniuses (thank you Joanna and Randi) about the forms and spreadsheets we use with our partners in Africa and India in an effort to make data easier to collect and use.   Charlotte has also taken on the task of organizing our documents into a format that is easily accessible. Needless to say, all this takes amazing amounts of time but feels so productive when one more piece is in place.

In short MCP is busy organizing everything. Getting our ducks in a row so to speak. Even our storage space is getting a facelift as we go through boxes and bags and sort what’s useful and what should go to other organizations. We just donated a car load of really beautiful fabrics (wools, silks and velours that we don’t use) to UpStitch in Albany. They often donate right back to us with small pieces of cottons that we can use for drawstring bags. I love these partnerships.

MoonCatcher Kits ready to be assembled and sent off to Tanzania with The Outer Loop Humanity Project.

Our home sewers across the country are making MoonCatcher kits or cutting Tyvek for us.  We were part of a day-long event in Chicago highlighting African American Health issues. First we met on Zoom to show experienced seamstresses how to make the kit and after seeing their work they ran the MoonBee that was the hands on part of the day.

The kits produced at our MoonBees here at home, are going to Tanzania with The Outer Loop and to a part of Malawi, in the south, that we don’t cover with our sewing guilds there.

Aside from The MoonCatcher Project, I’m in the garden hoeing and planting and dreaming of homegrown everything. Thanks to all of you for all that you do to support The MoonCatcher Project!