The Women’s Fund of Greater Chattanooga is hosting a Period Product Drive during Period Poverty Awareness Week May 12-18 to benefit the ongoing needs at the Hamilton County Schools Care Closets and other local nonprofits.
Period poverty is lack of access to safe and hygienic menstrual products and lack of menstrual hygiene education. The Women’s Fund is a nonpartisan policy nonprofit that advocates to improve the lives of women and girls in Tennessee through advocacy and collective philanthropy. Addressing the effects and root causes of period poverty is just one of the many initiatives the organization works on.
“Menstrual products are as essential as other basic restroom amenities, like toilet paper and paper towels,” said Melody Shekari, executive director of the Women’s Fund. “The cost of menstrual products is a barrier to obtaining them. We know that more than 40% of people who need period products have struggled to purchase them at one point in their life.”
Lack of access to adequate period products can be harmful to an individual’s physical and mental health, especially to middle and high school students. Not having the right product or enough supply can add additional stress and burden to individuals who need them.
“Providing period products in schools helps level the playing field among students. About half the student population menstruates, and alleviating the cost and access to products allows students to focus on learning,” added Shekari. “In the United States, about a quarter of girls have missed school due to lack of access to period products.”
The Women’s Fund started the period poverty product drive due to advocacy by students of CGLA, who identified a need for products in schools. Thousands of products have been donated to the Hamilton County Schools Foundation Care Closets, where teachers can select needed items for their classrooms, but products from last year ran out in January of this year.
Other organizations have also begun to distribute items, like the Soddy Daisy Community Library. It started providing free period kits when they heard about girls using toilet paper instead of pads or tampons, which is not a safe, hygienic or reliable practice for women and girls. Other sources, including the Chattanooga Area Food Bank, have seen requests for period products at pantries far exceed the supply of donations.
The Women’s Fund continues to host this drive each year because of this local need, and this year, it is expanding its partners.
How to Make a Donation to the Period Product Drive
The Women’s Fund urges our local community to step up for our students and local women. The average woman uses 20 pieces of product per cycle, and our community will need thousands of products to fully support women and girls. The Women’s Fund is hoping to not only stock the Hamilton County Care Closet for an entire year but to also support the Soddy Daisy Community Library’s kit program and the Chattanooga Area Food Bank. Its goal this year is to provide 10,000 products, and donors can purchase online through our wishlist at tinyurl.com/HC-Period-Product-Drive or drop off pads, tampons, menstruation underwear, and other products at the following locations:
- Women's Fund of Greater Chattanooga office: 5715 Uptain Rd, Ste 300 (use the call button to get into the lobby)
- Society of Work, 110 Somerville Ave, Floor 2r
- Chattanooga Area Food Bank (main office), 2009 Curtain Pole Rd
Monetary donations to support the drive and policy and advocacy in this area can also be made at tinyurl.com/wfgc-support.
Ongoing Period Poverty Advocacy
In addition to providing immediate support to alleviate period poverty, the Women’s Fund also advocates to end period poverty at the state-level.
“It could cost less than $150,000 per year to provide free period products to every public high school in Tennessee,” said Shekari. “Even though there is wide public support for this and a bill passed to include free period products in Tennessee public high school bathrooms passed this year, the state government and TN Legislature has yet to fund it.” The Women’s Fund will be working with partner organizations to continue to address the root causes of period poverty. “We’ll continue to advocate until every person who needs access to menstrual products and education in Tennessee has it,” concluded Shekari.
For more information on the Women’s Fund of Greater Chattanooga, please visit chattanoogawomensfund.org.