Womens Cabinet

Since its inception in 2014, the purpose of the Womens' Cabinet is to provide personal hygiene items free of charge to underserved women and children in our community. Working hand in hand with the Idyllwild HELP Center and Mountain Communities Mutual Aid, SI Idyllwild provides more than $7,500 worth of personal hygiene items each year to underserved community members. 

During the winter Holidays, Personal Care Packages are created and distributed to each child on the Idyllwild HELP Center Angel Tree as well as to seniors aged 65 and up, and are stuffed to the brim with items tailored for their age group.

On an ongoing basis, items are stocked at the HELP Center for clients who are in need of personal hygiene items, and distributed through the food share program at MCMA. Items provided range from toothpaste and toothbrushes to lotion, shampoo, conditioner, chapstick, nail clippers, tampons, sanitary napkins, face wash, wash cloths, and more. 

Through education and advocacy, and our Women's Cabinet, we can greatly improve access to hygiene facilities and products, reduce stigma and shame, and encourage education about menstruation. Periods are often associated with shame and stigma, as well as poor menstruation education. UNICEF, the UN, and many other global organizations recognize that the more access to education a girl has, the more change in her community she can make. Girls are unable to attend school for a myriad of reasons, but one of them is lack of access to personal and menstrual hygiene products. Around the world, children miss school while menstruating due to lack of access in addition to cultural or social stigma that they may face. 

Nonprofit organization I Support the Girls says it best: "A woman shouldn't have to choose between feeding herself and her personal health." We are seeking funds to help address the needs of the women and girls in our community, as well as the men and boys who need better access to personal hygiene items. 

This is not a gender specific issue, and we believe that while women and girls have a greater burden due to the lack of access to menstruation products, we wish to provide access for everyone who needs it. 

If you have ever run out of toothpaste or feminine hygiene items and had to run to Fairway or Village Market to replenish your supply, you know that these items are very expensive, and much of our community cannot afford such items. We continue to believe that personal hygiene items such as those provided in the Women's Cabinet are necessities and not luxuries.