When a woman leaves an abusive home, she often leaves with almost nothing. What she needs next isn’t just a safe place to sleep — it’s the everyday essentials that let her hold onto some sense of normalcy and dignity while she rebuilds. That’s the gap our Brave to Care Packages campaign is working to close.

Through Brave to Care Packages, the RVM Cares team — the VSS and SEAF teams at BMW South Africa’s IT Hub — is raising funds to buy sanitary pads in bulk and assemble them into care packages. Once packed, the packages are handed over to local shelters and support organisations that assist women rebuilding their lives after leaving abusive homes.

It’s a small, practical thing — a box of sanitary pads — but period poverty is a real and often overlooked barrier for women who already have enough to deal with. Making sure this one need is covered, reliably and without anyone having to ask, is what this campaign is about.

We’ve set a goal of R20,000 to keep the packages coming. Every rand raised goes directly toward buying stock in bulk, so it stretches further.

Join us on 31 October

On Saturday, 31 October, we’re turning the campaign into an actual work morning. From 9:00 to 13:00 at BMW South Africa’s IT Hub, the RVM Cares team will pack this round of care packages together, then hand them over to our partner shelters the same day.

No experience is needed — just a couple of hours and a willingness to help. We’ll provide all the packing materials and refreshments. Spaces are limited to 30, so if you’d like to join us, RSVP on the event page.

Can’t make it on the day? You can still help by donating to the campaign — every contribution, big or small, goes straight toward the next batch of packages.