Lunapads

Craft fairs are abundant this time of year, so I need to be choosy. The two I want to attend are both this weekend, and are very special indeed and not to be missed.

The Vancouver Waldorf School Children’s Christmas Fair in North Vancouver (Sat Nov 24). This is a truly magical event for all ages that includes a huge craft fair and market with amazing hand made crafts (I made some felt figures, but I’ll buy them back at the fair so no one else does), healthy food market, acitivities for kids (puppet show, candle dipping, wreath making, gingerbread decorating, etc.) It is the main fundraiser for our school and attracts a big crowd. Come early and be prepared for line ups for the most popular activities!

The Maternal Creations craft fair put on by my midwives is from Friday night (Nov 23rd) to Sunday pm. Mothers in the community gather to sell and exhibit unique trinkets, practicals, and enjoyables that are sewn, thrown, painted, beaded, quilting, knitted, molded and stamped. Different vendors every day! I exhibited last year, but was overwhelmed by the activity, all the while caring for baby Garret at the same time. This year, I’ll browse at my leisure and have lots of time to shop, visit and chat.

So, if you live in the lower mainland of Vancouver, please come check out these 2 events.

I was just reading some feedback on our Facebook group from customers who would like to be able to donate to charities that we work with at Lunapads. A great idea that we are working on, although it’s not as easy as you might think from a technical perspective! In the meantime, we often donate pads to La Leche League chapters, groups working with low-income or developing nations women, and youth - we just don’t talk about it as much as we could. One of our collective “to do’s” for 2008 is to devote more time to sharing these stories, which brings me to a real, live example.
The University of British Columbia (the Canadian province where Lunapads is located) has an organization called Global Outreach Students Association. One if its many projects is women students educating rural women in Ecuador about women’s reproductive health and family planning. GOSA approached us a couple of years ago about donating Lunapads as part of their program. We got this letter and photos just the other day that tell the story:
“We received a generous donation of Lunapads from you earlier in the summer to take with us to a rural Indigenous community in Ecuador. Please find attached pictures of us explaining to the women how to use them. This is the second year that Lunapads has donated to GOSA, and again the response from the community was overwhelmingly positive. We distributed the pads to the women after a sexual health workshop where we explained the female reproductive cycle, different contraceptive methods, and had a great positive discussion including men about respectful cooperation between both women and men in a family. At the end, we introduced the Lunapads to any menstruating women who had attended the workshop. Previously the women were using awkward homemade methods to manage their period. They were excited to receive the pads and were extremely happy with them. The response was such that, even after we had given all the Lunapads, we continued to have women ask us about the product and if we had any more!! Both our organization and the communities we were working with would love to collaborate with Lunapads in the future.
Even if methods we’re more familiar with, such as (disposable) pads and tampons, were available and affordable to these communities, there is no waste management available and would only be adding to the inorganic garbage that they do not have any environmentally safe ways to manage. Lunapads was the perfect option and we were very happy to distribute them knowing that they are a comfortable, reusable, and sustainable product.
Again, thank you, and we look forward to be in contact in the future. It is because of the generosity of companies such as Lunapads that student organizations are able to go overseas and work on these kinds of projects.”
Sincerely, Natalie Amram

In case you haven’t joined our “I heart my Lunapads” group on Facebook yet, here’s another great reason: free pad contests! In this case, all you have to do is join the group and add your idea for the name of this fabric to the discussion thread. Whoever comes up with our favorite name wins some new pads in the fabulous new fabric - woo hoo!

How does one make sure girls are getting involded in the action sports that have typically been left to the ‘boyz’? You start your own community to get women involved! Enter Bettygohard, the action sports company focused on inspiring women. Created by Natasha Lockey aka Betty, a lover of action sports who was frustrated at never seeing Girls in Action and wanted to see more girls out there pushing their limits and inspiring others to do the same! She wanted to create a safe space where women could play hard and get the suport they needed to get involved.

She started out with a series of women’s weekly shuttle-assisted rides followed with appetizers (wine, cheese & chocolate…the way to a girls heart.) This mountain biking series was created after speaking with a number of women who wanted to get out on their bikes but lacked confidence and riding partners of a similar level. She has been overwhelmed with the positive response for the six week riding series, and is developing other programs to accommodate the demand.

While inspiring women to get outdoors, she also decided to make a point of educating women on how to respect their bodies. She contacted us here at Lunapads to make a donation so we sent along a Mini Pantyliner for each rider in the summer series - they were a hit! Wearing cloth pads while riding a bike is far more comfortable and healthier for you.

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I know, I know. Halloween is over and done. But I am one of the world’s greatest procrastinators and so here is my Halloween post – only 9 days late…that’s almost a record for me
I have often procrastinated on getting a costume, or if I did manage to scheme up ‘the perfect costume’ in my mind, I would go off in search of what I needed only to be disappointed by what I could find at the thrift stores and call the whole thing off only to end up with the world’s lamest costume. You know those ones that everyone does, oooh, a black cape and some dark lipstick, I mean, how creative is that?!

But this year we decided to plan ahead to make sure we looked good. First off, there were 3 activities to go to the weekend of Halloween fun so I didn’t want to disappoint. The first stop was the Parade of Lost Souls, second was Marie-Genevieve’s 27th birthday party which had a rockers theme (based upon the 27 Club) and third was my pal Harry’s party. Since one party had a theme we had to do something that would work for that but would also be more than just a general ‘rocker’ look. We racked our brains and finally came up with this. My sweetheart and I were going to do our first couples costumes, and become The Knife. They are an ‘electronic’ brother/sister duo from Sweden (seriously check them out, they are so good) They get stage fright and wear these raven masks, so even if anyone didn’t get the reference, it would still be a cool and scary look.

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I picked up a Lunapads flyer/handout paper at the Women’s Centre at UBC about 3 years ago where I’d go to microwave my lunch and chill out sometimes. They had some good posters saying “get off the tampon pony” or something to that effect and I know someone who got TSS so I have always been quite worried about it. I also wanted to cut back on disposable tampons and pads, plus the plastic crinkle of wearing pads to bed always felt a bit embarrassing. In any case, I finally went ahead and ordered the DivaCup and Mini Pantyliners kit and have loved it ever since. I really like the Leopard print Mini Pads cause they’re interesting and way more comfortable to sleep in than disposable pads.

I’ve been camping and traveling in Mexico with the DivaCup and never had any trouble cleaning and taking care of it. The picture of me is on the road to Baja, Mexico. My fiance and I drove our Subaru station wagon down there to go surfing for 2 months last winter. We camped in our tent every night, mostly in out of the way places with no toilets (maybe an outhouse) and no running water. I managed very well with my DivaCup and Lunapads and didn’t have to worry about packing out used tampons and pads, it was great! It’s actually been pretty awesome not to have to worry about finding the Spanish word for tampon to ask for them in Mexican drugstores (like i once had to do in Spain).

In any case, the Lunapads experience has been very liberating. It’s a nice way to take care of myself and the environment and seems to take the yuckiness out of my period (like when I’d worry about wrapping pads thoroughly so they’d be disguised in the bathroom garbage). Thanks again Lunapads and keep up your promotions, I hope lots of other girls will find the same solution as I did.

Flora S.,
Victoria, BC

The following is excerpted from today’s Vancouver Sun. Article and photo: Malcolm Parry.
THAT TIME OF THE DECADE: If ever a market were systemized and regularized, it’s the billion-dollar one for feminine hygiene products. Yet two Vancouver entrepreneurs, Madeleine Shaw and Suzanne Siemens, believe there’s more than room enough for their Lunapads firm to sell non-disposable products to women who would use them for some five days out of 28. In the U.S. alone, they calculate, the 73 million women who regularly use menstrual-period tampons will each flush 16,800 of them away. In 1998, the Franklin Associates waste consultancy calculated that 6.5 billion tampons and 13.5 billion sanitary pads were disposed of annually.

Those are big numbers for former fashion designer Shaw and chartered accountant Siemens’s six-person firm. Eighty per cent of their sales are via the Internet. “It’s a natural for our 100-per-cent-cotton products,” Shaw said. “A woman will say, ‘I’ve heard about cloth pads.’ So, she’ll Google it, and Lunapads will come up in the top five.”
“And there’s no shortage of people looking for green products,” said Siemens, who was controller at B.C. Gas before she met Shaw in 1999 as participants in the Vancouver Board of Trade and Volunteer Vancouver’s Leadership Vancouver program.

Shaw’s notion for Lunapads began in 1994. As a venture-capital student at the B.C. Institute of Technology, she won $1,000 for a business plan she wrote. “When women do shift to our products,” Shaw said, “we find their whole attitude to their period, their cycles and their bodies is greatly improved. I can show you hundreds of testimonials.” She can, too. Some of the many appear on the Lunapads website. They’re not prophets or proselytizers — just two young mothers who see society-wide ecological sensitivity bringing the market closer to what they offer. “I always thought Lunapads was a product ahead of its time,” Shaw said. “Then, two years ago, I realized our time had come.”

Mama Goddess Birth Shop, the online store run by our dear friend Nikiah (pictured here), is celebrating it’s 2nd birthday…and she’s asked us to help her celebrate!

We’ve combined our efforts to offer you some great prizes, but since it’s Mama Godess’s birthday, Nikiah’s the one running the show. Check out her News section for full details, or sign up to her newsletter for an entry form.

The contest is a all about a personal touch. She’s looking to have some fun with this birthday, so rather than just answering a question she’s looking for humorous stories you may have about parenting, being a mamma and Lunapads.
Send your stories to: nikiah@mamagoddessbirthshop.com

Two winners will be selected:
First Place will win a Lunapads Intro Kit.
Second Place will recieve a Moon Time Gift Pack from Mama Goddess.
Contest ends at midnight on November 30th and the winners will be announced in the Mama Goddess December Newsletter along with their ” humourous” stories!

Because we believe everyone needs a good chuckle, especially on their Birthdays!

We are often asked to contribute samples and information to various women’s and environmental groups. The Younger Women’s Task Force is a great example. Pictured here are participants in the YWTF’s recent national leadership conference in Washington DC, holding the Lunapads gift packs we donated.

The YWTF is a project of the National Council of Women’s Organizations in the USA. It is a nationwide, diverse and inclusive grassroots movement dedicated to organizing younger women and their allies to take action on issues that matter most to them. By and for younger women, YWTF works both within and beyond the women’s movement, engaging all who are invested in advancing the rights of younger women. Through its twelve chapters across the USA, YWTF members are working to:
- Provide a stronger voice in the policy making process for women in their 20’s and 30’s
- Increase the impact of younger women activists through the articulation of, and collaboration on, a common agenda
- Create a culture of inclusion where decision-making and power are practiced collectively, and members from diverse backgrounds participate in all levels of YWTF
- Define and develop the next generation of women leaders
- Create a local and national network for peer mentoring, networking and sharing resources
Sounds like our kind of thing!

My name is KT and I’m Karen’s daughter. I’m 13 years old and am also home-schooled. I’m writing on my mom’s blog today to review Lunapads. What are Lunapads? Well, they are cloth menstrual pads that can be washed and used again. They have lots of different ways they can be used because the pads, which come in different sizes and have nylon in them to prevent leaks, can have a special liner on them or they can be used on their own. There are also ones made of only cloth for very light days.

I had already had two periods and used disposable pads when my mom found out about Lunapads. I decided to try them because the disposables were very uncomfortable for me. Lunapads are way more comfortable then disposables, and they don’t get sticky and hot. They also don’t crinkle and make lots of noise like disposables do. I hated thinking that my friends could hear my pad crinkle when I walked! They are, in the long run, cheaper as well because you don’t have to replace them every time they get dirty.

An average woman uses 12,000 pads or tampons in her lifetime! And these can take 40 years or longer to biodegrade. Lunapads can be re-used again and again. That’s why they’re less harmful to the environment. They are also easy to clean, just soak them in a little water and put them in the washer. Then air dry them and they are as clean as new!

Not only are they better for me, and the environment, they are just really cute! They come in all kinds of cute fabrics and colors and that’s way more exciting than just plain boring white.

Best of all, I feel so much better about my period now!!

My mom wanted me to write this review so that I could encourage other teenagers to try them. I really like Lunapads and I think you should try them too. If you want to learn more go to Lunapads. There you can find FAQ, testimonials, and a list of their products.

Maybe you can be nice to the environment and yourself at the same time!

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