When I asked Elise Joy how I could help Girls Helping Girls Period, I expected her to hand me a simple task. Instead, we laughed our way through a zoom meeting focused on finding a project meaningful to me, and also those I wanted to serve. The result was my assigning myself the challenge of collecting 500 packs of pads for the take home support GHGP distributes at their period management workshops.
This challenge taught me more about real support than I expected to learn from a pad drive.
The first thing I learned: it couldn’t just be 500 packs. It had to be 500 packs of the exact same product. This was one component of a mix of items; GHGP sends every student home with three to four months’ worth of period products after each workshop. Every bag is identical, so no student ends up with a lesser product than the person sitting next to them. A large, equitable supply told me a lot about the real change GHGP is working toward, rather than any quick fix.
I reached out to my network, and the response was incredible. Within a few weeks we’d secured 272 packs! But the finish line was still a long way off, and the specific-product requirement meant I couldn’t just fill the gap with whatever was on sale.
Elise connected me with Hannah Zollman, someone wanting to make a meaningful difference for an organization she has long supported. Within hours Hannah activated her network and together we surpassed the 500 pack goal, all within about a month.
I used to think that asking for help meant I hadn’t done enough on my own. But asking Hannah to help wasn’t a shortfall, it was the point. Working together is what helps us build strong communities and strong connections.
I had expected this project would take some effort, but I was surprised by how it made me rethink kindness and giving. It’s easy to help in a way that makes you feel generous: write the check, drop off a box, post about it. It’s harder, and far more useful, to ask what the person on the other end actually needs, and to keep showing up even when your first plan doesn’t get you all the way there.
GHGP could have taken any 500 packs of pads and called it done. Instead, they held out for exactly what would serve their students best — and in doing that, they taught me the real difference between giving and actually helping.