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In conjunction with HOPE Outreach, a UBC Okanagan student group is gathering supplies and packing backpacks for exploited and marginalized women in Kelowna.
Dela Hini is the project lead for the Pink Backpack Project (PBP), a campaign project that focuses on providing sanitary products, toiletries and cosmetics to marginalized women – such as lotion, deodorant, soap, blankets, backpacks and pads – who may struggle to obtain them otherwise.
The idea came in part, says Hini, from her experience with the Engineers without Borders, which focused on reducing inequity, where her desire to positively engage with the community developed.
In September 2018, Hini co-founded ASSA, along with several UBCO students, before establishing the PBP as part of the ASSA's Community Engagement pillar.
Hini described the establishment of the Course Union and the subsequent project as a serendipitous decision to tackle two things she hoped to accomplish: co-create a student association to unify the Arts and Science faculties, and support both the students and the wider community in her PBP project.
"The idea was there before, but it was really able to take off once ASSA was created,” Hini said, adding that the projects colour choice represents the 10th goal of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: reducing inequality.
Hini can also see that the format of her community outreach program has the potential to support marginalized women with HOPE Outreach and tackle more issues in the city.
"The philosophy behind it is to be something that can mobilize students to use their talents and skills that they learn from the classroom, or that they've developed outside the classroom, to support the Kelowna community," Hini said about the PBP.
"Any level of engagement with the community is something that will fall underneath that portfolio, and it so happens to be that our focus this school year is sanitary products, cosmetics, toiletries for marginalized women."
Although the project had a difficult start, the project is gaining traction on campus with RBC offering donations and money for supplies, the campus Equity and Inclusion Centre providing storage and space, as well as scholarship funding from the Student Life Network – an announcement which delightfully surprised Hini.
Hini hasn’t been able to send off a care package to HOPE quite yet, attributing a lack of volunteers and a lack of awareness on the UBCO campus to the project’s struggles, but she is hoping to bring 10 bags of items to the Outreach Centre by the end of the academic term.
“This semester it’d be nice to have at least 10 bags of items to deliver [but] it all depends on how many items/the variety of items we receive,” said Hini, adding that the variety of items being acquired means each bag may not be identical.
“And since we pushed our delivery deadline from last semester to the end of this one, we’re hoping to use this time to collect items, then pack the bags and have our first delivery in April!”
Hini is hoping that the project can continue while she is here and after she has finished her Sociology degree at UBC Okanagan, although is "still needs a lot of developing and a lot more volunteers to make it something long-term," she said.
Donations for the PBP will be collected throughout the semester in several boxes located around the campus, with a mid-year drive at the end of April. All proceeds collected will be given to HOPE Outreach in Kelowna.
For more information on how to donate, or volunteer for the program, visit the PBP Facebook page.
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