Hello, In support of Pittsburgh Abortion Doula Collective, volunteers will be offering curbside pick-up of some hard-to-recycle items for a donation on July 16, 2022, on the east end of Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Abortion Doula Collective is committed to supporting people accessing abortion care in Pittsburgh by offering trained abortion doulas to each and every patient at no cost to them. Our service includes picking up laptops, mobile devices, mainframe computer equipment, batteries (rechargeable and alkaline), styrofoam, clamshell plastic containers, and shredded paper. Please let us know if you are interested in having us pick up any of the referenced items by filling out this google form <https://forms.gle/HMK8m6SEB5TLYvAL7>. We can accept CashApp or Venmo ahead of time, as well as cash at the time of pick up. Residents can leave the money in an envelope at a designated spot, so you do not need to be home when we pick up the items. Please share with your neighbors. To learn more about Pittsburgh Abortion Doula Collective, please read more below. Thank you for recycling! Elizabeth Glowczewski *** As abortion laws rapidly change in neighboring states (and beyond), the demand for abortion services in Pittsburgh is exponentially increasing. Patients now must travel hundreds of miles each way due to new restrictions in their home states. The two Pittsburgh clinics that offer abortions - Planned Parenthood and Allegheny Reproductive Health Center - are experiencing extreme increases in demand for services; they are working more hours and seeing more patients than ever before. These rapid changes in the status of abortion access in the United States are in addition to existing barriers that abortion patients experience, including stigma and isolation. In light of these needs, a group of local abortion rights activists came together in spring 2022 to find new ways to support abortion patients and providers in Pittsburgh. Abortion doulas, just like birth doulas, are trained to offer physical, mental, and emotional support to a patient during an abortion; they provide dedicated, non-medical support to a patient throughout their abortion experience. While individual abortion doulas exist in Pittsburgh, we see the ability to serve more patients in an equitable manner by training cohorts of abortion doulas to provide their support services at both abortion clinics in Pittsburgh. With this goal in mind, our collective has named ourselves the Pittsburgh Abortion Doula Collective and will recruit, coordinate and train people interested in becoming certified abortion doulas. We are fundraising to support the costs associated with abortion doula training ($80 per person through Birthing Advocacy Doulas) as well as the ongoing administrative costs of implementing the program. Our inaugural cohort will train 30 individuals as abortion doulas by fall 2022. ReplyForward