Taylor Storlien and Jay Erickson-

Next Monday, Feb. 26th, Building Bridges and Students for Reproductive Freedom (SRF) are collaborating to put on a Sip and Paint event from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the Courtyard Cafe. Students in attendance will be able to paint a small canvas and enjoy SRF’s signature mocktail: Consensual Sex On The Beach.

The SRF is a student organization with connections to Planned Parenthood Generation Action. The organization attempts to increase education and knowledge about “reproductive health and rights, to translate increased awareness into pro-choice activism on campus, and to serve as a coalition partner to state, national, and international reproductive rights efforts,” the organization’s page on the Gustavus website says.

During the event, attendees will be given the opportunity to learn more about period poverty in the U.S. from members of the SRF.  Period poverty, which has recently become a more well-known topic, is where individuals have limited access to resources such as menstrual products and education surrounding menstruation. “Period poverty means that millions of women are subjected to injustice and inequity due to menstruation,” the National Library of Medicine’s website says.  The so-called “Pink Tax” refers to the higher prices put on products marketed towards women than on those marketed towards men.

The event will also promote this year’s theme for the Building Bridges Conference, which is Childhood Poverty: Uniting Voices to Empower Tomorrow. The conference will focus on “childhood poverty, with a particular emphasis on LGBTQIA+ and youth of colored face,” Building Bridges Co-Chairs Ainsley Langerud and Alex Dillon said on the Building Bridges website. The conference will take place on March 2nd from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in Alumni Hall and Beck Hall.

Vice President of Students for Reproductive Freedom and Junior Scott Bushard explained that planning an event like Sip and Paint is “… pretty straightforward compared to other events.” The student organization has hopes that attendance will be high as SRF has not yet done a Sip and Paint before and has seen success with them on campus previously.

Senior Allison Schmidt, a member of Building Bridges, expressed the group’s desire to spread awareness of the conference to more people. “During each event throughout the week, we will advertise the event and work to tie the theme of the conference back to the purpose of the event,” Schmidt said. Schmidt also said that by collaborating with other groups like SRF, Building Bridges can introduce its message to other groups whose “demographics […] may differ from ours”.

Previously this month, on Feb. 6, CAB hosted an event by the same name. During this event, students were provided with drinks, a variety of paints, brushes, and canvases. Students were allowed to choose from a selection of painting tutorials or simply paint whatever they were inspired to. One could choose to use the time to relax and paint by oneself or to hang out and paint with friends.