It’s the Monday after Halloween and we here at Care Collective hope you had a spooky, frightful, and restful weekend! Now we’re going to ruin it by mentioning what’s happening tomorrow.

Despite being something every child will use at some point, half of the families in Kalamazoo with young children do not have access to an adequate supply of diapers.

It’s weird to think it’s August already, but students return to school later this month. Every year, caregivers scramble to get the notebooks and folders their children need for class, but for kids who menstruate, this scramble also involves pads and tampons.

After a hectic month, we’re excited to announce that we almost feel settled in. Moving is never easy, but it gets a little more complicated when moving includes eight pallets of diapers and period products. We would like to thank all of the people who helped make it happen, in the order that they helped us.

You read that right. We’re only having one more volunteer event or, more accurately, one more event in our current warehouse. We’re moving next month to a much bigger warehouse, and we could use your help pulling it off!

What do Mario Kart, tampons, and the city of Kalamazoo have in common? Not much, but we found a way to mush them together anyway! May is home to Period Poverty Awareness Week. We decided to go all out this year, and you’re invited. 

April is off to a weird start: Mercury is in retrograde, something weird happened to the sun, and a new person is hanging around the Care Collective warehouse. Let’s chat about all of these things in reverse order. 

Let’s take a look at what’s different, what’s new, and where folks like you fit into the puzzle!

January marked a period of exciting growth for us with the addition of four new partners. So, let’s meet them!

What can change when people have the resources they need?

We’re excited to expand on the foundation we’ve built, and we’re excited to do that with you.

A strong foundation is nothing if we don’t build on it, and that’s where you come in!

The year is far from over, but in our first newsletter, we want to reflect on what we’ve done so far.