Hi! My name’s Taylor. I’m an 20 year old college Junior and like most people with a uterus, I shed my uterine lining out of my vagina once every twenty to thirty days. But unlike a lot people with a uterus in this country, I have reliable access to safe and sanitary methods of dealing with my period. Things like pads, tampons, panty liners, menstrual cups, soap, hot water, feminine wipes, and clean underwear are easy for me to obtain without much thought of the cost. This makes me pretty privileged.

See pads and tampons, are really, REALLY expensive. The Huffington Post estimated that the average woman will spend over $18,000 on her period over the course of her lifetime. With that much money, you could buy a car, a year of college tuition, or unlimited access to Disneyland for almost two decades. But for most of us, putting that much cash toward the simple ability to manage our bodies’ natural menstrual cycle is not only a sacrifice we’re willing to make, but one we have the privilege of being able to make.

According to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, over 200,000 women were homeless in 2016. Additionally, 1 in 7 women were reported to live in poverty in 2014 by the National Women’s Law Center. That’s over 18 million women! About 8.2 million of these women are reported to be living in extreme poverty, meaning their income is below 50% of the federal poverty level. This means they’re likely to rely on welfare and social service programs like food stamps and soup kitchens. But how does all of this relate to menstruation?

For starters, if those 200,000 women are having a hard time affording a place to live, they probably don’t have the funds to purchase costly period products month after month. A typical box of tampons costs more than some of the cheapest meals available to American consumers, meaning a lot of people living on the streets or in poverty literally have to choose between sanitary menstrual products or putting food in their stomachs. Even if welfare resources are available to women struggling to make ends meet, these social programs still fall short when it comes to periods. Most food stamps and similar government vouchers do not cover period products, pads and tampons are often not provided in homeless shelters or community centers, and most schools and churches do not provide free menstrual products. The luxury tax on period products and the stigma around menstruation means pads and tampons are very rarely donated or thought of by social service organizations, forcing women to create dangerous, unsanitary, and unreliable solutions for their bleeding bodies.

Old and dirty newspapers, napkins, socks, t-shirts, plastic bags, paper towels and cotton balls are often rolled into a tight tube and inserted into the vagina in place of a tampon. Toilet paper from public restrooms are frequently piled into women’s underwear to act like a pad. If they manage to get their hands on actual period products, that one pad or tampon is often left in the vagina for the entire menstrual cycle because there is no telling where their next period product is coming from. These makeshift menstrual products are unclean, unhygienic and unsafe. They can lead to infections, cause toxic shock syndrome, result in irritation, create vaginal health problems, and are overall un-dignifying and dehumanizing. That’s why donations like yours are important.

Every dollar, tampon, pad or card that you donate are used to make ‘Period Kits’, which are be donated to soup kitchens and homeless shelters across DC. The Kits are then placed directly into the hands of those who so desperately need them. These ‘kits’ each contain enough pads, tampons and panty liners for one menstrual cycle, hand sanitizer, feminine wipes, an information packet with vaginal health tips, and a handwritten card. The ‘kits’ are assembled by myself and fellow volunteers in my community and we make sure they each hold everything needed to empower those in need so they can have a dignified and infection-free menstrual cycle. Thank you for helping me with my goal of providing every human with a uterus a sanitary, safe and stress free period!