by Alana Laanui |
Many groups on campus are teaming up to run a collection drive to help these women in need on Feb. 22-26. Feminine hygiene products (pads and tampons), underwear and monetary contributions will be collected at The Commons, in residence halls and at The Chiles Center. Donations will go to Camions for Care, a local non-profit that will distribute the items.
Another major goal of the drive is to inform students about this topic and lift the stigma associated with periods so as to better help the homeless population. This educational component will include information and displays about periods and homeless women.
“Just bringing up the issue in classes and sparking conversation will help spread the information about the drive,” Parkes Kendrick, who is heading up the drive, said.
Kendrick, a junior on the women’s track team, was inspired to organize this effort after volunteering with local shelters and hearing women talk about the difficulties of dealing with their period when they can’t afford the proper hygiene products.
“There were always so many people who would come in and ask for (feminine hygiene products) and we didn’t have anything,” Kendrick said.
31 percent of the homeless population are women, according to the 2015 point-in-time survey of homelessness in Portland and surrounding counties. This number has been on the rise in recent years and these women face monthly obstacles that homeless men don’t have to worry about.
The conversation of feminine hygiene is often bypassed as a “dirty” topic, but for many homeless individuals in our community, it is a problem that cannot be avoided.
Menstruation and the need for feminine hygiene products are often left out of the conversation when addressing issues of homelessness. Kendrick has noticed the social stigma towards periods when she brings up the topic outside of her team.
“When you go out there and say the word ‘period’ people kind of cringe,” Kendrick said.
Kendrick is working with junior volleyball player Makayla Lindburg. They hope to involve athletics with the feminine hygiene drive and other collection drives in the future.
“If we could figure out how to utilize athletics in the drive it would be really great” Lindburg said.
The drive will also be utilizing the resources of ASUP, who will be monitoring the drive on Feb. 22, UP’s annual Molly Hightower Day of Service. Grace Holmes, vice president of ASUP, has been working to involve ASUP in the effort to collect feminine hygiene products. She noted that the collective aspect of the project makes this drive so unique.
Holmes also has a personal connection to the drive.
Her experience of being homeless for a year gave her first-hand experience of the difficulties many women on the streets deal with.
“I was homeless for a year in high school, so some of the things that were missing from the kits that I was given were feminine hygiene products,” Holmes said. “I don’t think the whole campus knows how difficult it is, especially men.”
Alana Laanui is a reporter for The Beacon. She can be reached at laanui18@up.edu or on Twitter @AlanaLaanui.
