I know that at least a few of my faithful readers use either a Diva Cup/Keeper and/or cloth pads.  I imagine many of you have also seen the ads about Proctor and Gamble (makers of Tampax and Always) donating pads to African girls, so that girls can stay in school.

On the surface this is a brilliant idea, yet the first time I saw the ad, the thought that immediately popped into my head was “Cloth pads would make so much more sense!”  Well, I wasn’t alone in my thinking. Beth over at Crunchy Chicken was WAY ahead of me…and much more thorough I might add!  She had similar thoughts and did some research into the matter and came up with this plan.  Basically, she has a set up a website (Goods 4 Girls) to collect donations of cloth pads (either hand sewn or purchased from a retailer – many of whom are offering discounts for the project!) and is liaising with various humanitarian organizations to arrange for the pads to be distributed to African girls primarily in Kenya and Uganda.  She has info on the Good 4 Girls site about how to sew your own pads (could be useful for personal use as well!) and a list of sites who will ship purchased pads directly to Beth for distribution.

I am not a sewer myself, so I’m going to purchase a few pads to donate.  If you’re not interested in donating…at least check out some of her writings on the subject.  This is a perfect example of why seemingly generous acts by large corporations sometimes come with hidden price tags, both financial and environmental. Definitely worth thinking about…