E hele mai, e noho i lalo, come make house and let aunty tell story for you

I had just paddled in from a surf sesh and was in the middle of changing my clothes when a visibly disheveled lady approached me at my car. There are a fair amount of homeless in the area and usually, they tend to keep to themselves, so I was a little off-put when she came up to me, especially being half-naked under a towel, unsure of her sobriety and/or intention.

“Excuse me,” she meekly greeted me, “do you by any chance have a tampon?”

My guard immediately dropped.

I reached into my glove box and grabbed the ziploc baggy I keep in there in case Aunty Ma’i comes unannounced. The woman saw I had more than one and politely asked if she could have two of them.

My heart broke.

All of us with chichis and a baby oven are subject to this periodical annoyance, but for those WITHOUT the finances or resources to access feminine hygiene products, "that time of the month" is probably way more than just irritating. I gladly gave her my whole emergency stash. Because even in her obvious embarrassment in asking, and my half-bare ass being a thin terry cloth away from any unstable person in the area, our vulnerabilities met there. I’m glad she asked for help, and I’m glad I could kokua.

Sooooo with Ulus 2 Ulus first line of “apparel,” we’re donating 1-for-1, shirt per reusable feminine hygiene cup to local homeless shelters and organizations across Hawai’i. So many facets of our home give beauty and aloha to us, why not, even in a small way, pay it forward? #ealohakekahiikekahi