176. Three Ways to Help

Welcome to Progressive Pockets! I go by GG, that’s short for Genet Gimja. This is a show about our money, but not in the way that you might hear about on other podcasts. This show is about the power of our money. The power our money has to change things around here. We’ve been sold a lie that only billionaires get to shape our communities, and frankly, I don’t buy it. So this show is about reclaiming some of our power.

One thing that comes up on this show is the power of donating money towards various causes. There have been episodes on how to be more thoughtful when donating after a natural disaster, episodes about the questions to ask a charity before you donate, and today I want to talk about how you can tackle a problem from three different angles when it comes to donating.

Maybe there’s something that you care a lot about, like it is YOUR thing. It is the thing in your community that you want to change. I’ll tell you about one of the things that is very meaningful to me and I am trying to find ways to figure out where I fit in, where I can help. For me, I think a lot about women and children and specifically I think a lot about women and girls that don’t have the menstrual supplies that they need. You may have heard the term “period poverty.” Menstruation is a normal and healthy part of life for about half of the population and yet, a lot of women and girls don’t have access to pads or menstrual cups or period underwear or those types of products, many women and girls don’t have access to the clean water and sanitation or even the education about their periods. This is a global issue and an issue here at home, there are women and girls here in America that don’t have what they need for their health, safety and dignity. It’s a public health issue, it’s a quality of life issue, it’s a women’s rights issue. And it’s something that really tugs at my heart. That’s how I know it is a core issue for me, one of those things that if I could help, even a little bit, it would be very meaningful to me. Maybe there’s something that you feel that way about too. Something that based on your education or exposure or lived experience, something that you know it is important for you to find a way to help.

Today I want to talk about the different ways you can tackle the same issue. There are lots of ways to help. You can support research or you can support services or you can support advocacy. Let’s break that down. And I’ll give examples based on my own core cause of menstrual health.

Research

There are groups that are doing research on this public health issue. They do research on what happens when women and girls don’t have the supplies that they need, when they are not informed and empowered regarding their periods. And they do research on whether different types of help are actually effective. So from these research groups we find out facts like:
The fact that 1 in 4 students have struggled to afford period products and 1 in 3 adults has struggled to afford period products. In America! I need a second, this just breaks my heart. That’s from some research by a group called Period dot org. There is also further research that was published in Obstetrics and Gynecology which did a deep dive into low income women in St Louis. Two thirds of low income women in St Louis could not afford menstrual products in 2018. So they made due with rags and cloths and paper towels and toilet paper and if they could get one, a children’s diaper. Without this research I don’t think middle income or wealthier income Americans would believe the problem is this big in our country. So this is an example of the research that is useful to solving this issue. It’s not the whole solution but it is absolutely a part of it. And there’s also research on the solutions. I think I saw on the website for Dignity Period that providing menstrual supplies and education in schools on menstruation decreased absenteeism by 24%.

So that’s one way to help. By supporting the research on a cause that you care about. Maybe diabetes or breast cancer is the cause that you really want to help. A research organization wouldn’t be providing mammograms or insulin pumps, a research organization would be trying to find a cure, scientific and social research to understand the causes and how well the solutions and interventions work. That’s the research that you can support.

On the other hand, you can support Services.

For menstrual health, there are organizations that give away period kits to homeless women, there are organizations that are working on putting free menstrual products in school bathrooms, there are groups that give away products and educational workshops in America and overseas. I have done that before. Me and my girlfriends have pooled our money together to buy period products for Eritrean refugees, for example. These are services. Education, supplies. You can donate to support Services.

I mentioned diabetes and breast cancer earlier, if those were the issues that you were thinking about, services would be handing out insulin pumps, giving free mammograms and health screenings, free or reduced medications, wigs for patients who want them. These are all services that you can support.

And then finally, you can support Advocacy.

There are people who are out there advocating that restrooms should have free period products, in the same way that toilet paper is free, so should period products. It’s not different. It’s just another bodily fluid that needs to be managed. It’s not a luxury, it’s just nature. There are advocacy groups fighting to change policy so that incarcerated people have free period products in the same way that they have free toilet paper. So there are groups doing that advocacy. There are groups advocating for better ways to talk or think about menstruation. That it’s not something gross or unsanitary or anything to be ashamed of. There are advocacy groups who are fighting the taxes on menstrual products that are still being charged in about half of states in America. Advocacy groups are pushing that number of states down, getting more states every year to stop taxing menstrual products.

Back to the examples of diabetes and breast cancer, advocacy groups are going to be the ones out there pounding the pavement and fighting for the rights of patients who have these diseases, who are having to fight insurance companies for their care. Advocacy groups are working to change laws and our societal norms. You can support that work. You can support their advocacy.

So these are the three different ways I could help when it comes to menstrual health access. Three different ways you could help when it comes to diabetes or homelessness or abortion access or hunger or illiteracy or really anything that you want to improve in your community. The three different ways to help are by supporting research, services, or advocacy.

Or hey, you can do all three. And I will say that is something that really appeals to me. Because if you are really concerned about an issue, like menstrual health access. Of course I want to continue to try to provide products to women and girls that need them. But I also want to get at the root causes, and so that’s where the support of research and advocacy comes into play. I love the idea of coming at menstrual health access from all three angles.

So to recap, here’s what we covered today: we talked about three ways to help. When you’ve looked around your community and noticed that something could be better, there are three different angles you could think about taking in trying to make things better.
Research: you could support the researchers who are studying the root causes and whether different solutions work or not
Services: you could support the people who are out there handing out supplies and education, the hands on work, planting the trees, handing out winter jackets
Advocacy: you could support the groups that are working to improve our laws, who are challenging the toxic cultural stigmas that are holding our communities back.

This episode was inspired by a little book I finally got the chance to read, called The Everyday Philanthropist by Dan Pallotta. I think I got it for free as a part of a swag bag when I spoke at the We Give Summitt in 2024. Let me know if you’d like a full book review on that. It’s a very short read and packs a punch.

If you have more time today, here’s another episode to check out, that’s episode 141 The Five Sources of Power Every Shareholder Has.

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Let’s end with a quote…this one comes from the late Nikki Giovanni, may she rest.

"There is always something to do. There are hungry people to feed, naked people to clothe, sick people to comfort and make well. And while I don't expect you to save the world I do think it's not asking too much for you to love those with whom you sleep, share the happiness of those whom you call friend, encourage those among you who are visionary and remove from your life those who offer you depression, despair, and disrespect."

Let’s talk again soon!