Getting your period isn’t fun. But can you imagine not being able to afford a tampon or pad? This is the struggle that so many homeless women are forced to endure each month. In an effort to address this issue, 19-year-old Nadya Okamoto founded PERIOD., a nonprofit organization that provides women in need with feminine hygiene products, educates communities on how to make the topic of periods less taboo, and advocates for laws that help make feminine hygiene products more accessible to women. Want to know how you can help out? Read on.
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Together with PERIOD., a Cal Poly student volunteer organization called Beyond Shelter is hosting a donation drive for feminine hygiene products. The drive is happening in conjunction with Beyond Shelter’s Homelessness Awareness Week, which is taking place April 23-April 29. Acceptable donations include boxes of tampons, pads, pantyliners, or any other feminine hygiene product. All donations received from the community will be transformed into “period packs,” which will then be given to a nearby women’s shelter and distributed to homeless women throughout SLO county.
Donations can be dropped off next week at the Center for Service in Action (Bldg. 52, Room E-22) during its hours of operation, Monday-Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. If you would like to help package the donations into period packs, stop by the Center for Service in Action on Thursday, April 26 during UU hour.
Any and every donation is appreciated. Many of these women are forced to take unsafe, unsanitary and uncomfortable measures when caring for their periods. Beyond Shelter and PERIOD. have high hopes that this drive will help meet these unavoidable needs of homeless women in the area.
If you have any related questions or comments, please direct them to Natalie Kerr at nkerr@calpoly.edu.