Chapter donates feminine hygiene products to local women’s treatment center

Legacy Treatment Center was extremely grateful for the donations. Gloria Bayliss stated, “the center is constantly buying pads and tampons.”

The pandemic has a long reaching arm, affecting and disrupting access to items we take for granted. While resources and assistance for needs such as food, housing and healthcare are available in many communities, assistance in securing hygiene products for low income women is failing miserably. The average woman spends about $20 on feminine hygiene products per cycle, adding up to about $18,000 over her lifetime according to data from now.org. Unfortunately, some women can not afford to buy pads so they use wads of toilet paper. Prior to the pandemic, many students depended on pads and tampons purchased by school districts and stored in the nurses office. When the pandemic caused schools to closed, this meant students lost access to needed products.

While the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act made period products medical expenses eligible for purchase with flexible spending accounts or health savings accounts, uninsured individuals cannot access this benefit.

– Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

SNAP and WIC benefits do not allow the purchase of sanitary pads or diapers. While the CARES Act made menstrual products eligible for purchase with a FSA or HSA, the uninsured cannot access this benefit.

Menstrual products are a necessity, not a luxury. It is important that organizations like the Drifters continue the important work of serving their communities and those in need.