City cyclists overflow with donations after pedalling against period poverty
|Published
Cape Town - The City cyclists team, who cycled against period poverty to collect sanitary pads for underprivileged girls and women across the province, have crossed the finish line.
These cyclists, all employed in different departments at the City, made the joint decision to turn the pedals after hearing the heart-rending stories of girls and women affected by menstruation struggles shared by the founder of #AgainstPeriodPoverty, Lindsay Adams.
Yesterday the team handed over more than 900 packs of pads to an overwhelmed Adams at Hey Halfway Toyota in Tygervalley, after cycling a 25.64km course, starting at Cape Town and ending in Muizenberg on December 2.
The dealership offered one of their bakkies to the cyclists to help them get the goods from area to area.
Lindsay told Independent Media her breath was taken away when she saw the mountain of pads.
“I have run out of words to express my thanks, appreciation and gratitude towards the City of Cape Town Cycling Team Hey Halfway Toyota Tygervalley BayPort and the community at large who came out to support and donated sanitary pads.
“Thank you for your generous donations and hearts towards #againstperiodpoverty and keeping our girls in school, because of this we can now donate more than 100 sanitary packs to nine charities of their choice. Thank you for a successful cycling awareness drive 2024,” she said.
City of Cape Town firefighter Jermaine Carelse said his office was filled with donors who also dropped off pads, while Regan Bagley, the City’s cyclist co-ordinator said this should be a national movement.
“Sanitary wear for women and girls should be free, this is something that should be done nationwide. This is why we decided to help Lindsay and her campaign through our passion, and we will continue to do this.”
Bagley added that they were hoping to “grow and cultivate the need for sanitary wear”.
“It was so nice to see everyone come out. By the time we got to Lakeside fire station, the bakkie was already full. This was one for the books and we thank everyone for coming out to show their support and most importantly for donating towards this cause,” he says.
