How Can You Tackle Period Poverty?
So, you wanna know how you can help to tackle period poverty?
Here are some ideas that can help you start with combating period poverty in your community!
1. HOST a Menstrual Product Drive
You can host a product drive with one of your favorite non-profit organizations! Contact the organization that you would like to partner with and first, make sure that they are in need of period products! You can host these drives at school, church, local businesses, civic groups, your neighborhood, and more! Make sure you advocate for your drive, so that your friends and acquaintances understand how important this drive is for you and the community! Through this drive, it is important to show the need for these products because of period poverty. Period poverty is not an issue that will be solved overnight with just one product drive, so host drives periodically! Here are some resources to help you with your drive!
PERIOD.org - How to Host a Product Drive PDF
alliance for PERIOD supplies - Period Supply Drive Toolkit PDF
2. ADVOCATE on Social Media
Advocate on your social media about the issue. Let people know what period poverty is and why it is so important to our community to understand it. The more people know about it, the more we can tackle the issue together. Follow activists like Nadya Okamoto, Darius Covington, Rupi Kaur, Amika George, and more! You can also follow accounts that are devoted to bringing attention to the issue such as PERIOD, The Pad Project, Free Periods, and more. Bring up period poverty in your daily conversations and advocate for tackling the issue with your friends, community members, etc!
3. EDUCATE Yourself and Others
Educate yourself by reading articles and blog posts of websites dedicated to combating period poverty! Here at SAPP, we have blog posts that are written by our communications members, like me (^^), but reading blog posts from websites like ours can help to educate not only you, but family members, friends, and your community! So share some blogs and links that would not only spread awareness and advocate, but also to educate those around us. You can read blogs from websites like thepadproject.org, period.org, allianceforperiodsupplies.org, actionaid.org.uk, globalcitizen.org, and more.
4. JOIN Organizations like SAPP!
By joining organizations like SAPP, you can be a direct solution to how we face period poverty as a community! At SAPP, you can help to develop blogs (like this one), become a CAPP-IT volunteer (someone who creates care packages, writing letters, and more while earning volunteer hours), or become your own chapter head! Joining organizations that help to alleviate menstrual rights issues can lead to more solutions and more awareness, as well as education. It’s important to know that the more people are aware of period poverty, the more people are able to help advocate and spread word about it. There is so much that you can do within an organization. You can even bring your issue to topic in your local government and get a bill passed, just like SAPP did! You are able to fight for something that you believe needs to be talked about and become a part of the solution!
Here were four different ideas that you can try to help tackle period poverty! There are always more solutions, but you can start small and go big. Remember that starting is better than doing nothing at all. You are the change that the world is waiting for.
Best to you all <3
About the Author: Hey, my name is Kayenne Ohno, I’m a Communications Member at SAPP! I signed up for a Leadership Summit with SAPP in the Summer of 2020 and was inspired to learn more about period poverty and how we can help this issue globally. Now, I’m here writing to have a discussion about period poverty with you all. Find us on IG @officialsapp & on FB @sapp4u <3