Period Pantry Project tackles period poverty, one menstrual product at a time
A longtime community health worker, Jill Guinan once had a client who she helped to secure housing and eventually, a job interview. But on the day of the interview, her client called her up to tell her that she couldn’t make it; she had just gotten her period but had no way to access menstrual products.
Guinan jumped in her car, drove to the store and made a speedy delivery.
That day, Guinan encountered a struggle in the community that was often overlooked: period poverty, a lack of access to menstrual products due to various barriers such as income, transportation or safety.
As she did more research to look for resources for her client, she soon realized there wasn’t much. Guinan decided she was going to change that.
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In January 2020, she founded the Period Pantry Project, a volunteer-run nonprofit organization dedicated to providing a consistent source of pads, tampons and menstrual cups to individuals and households in central Ohio through deliveries and partnerships with other community organizations.
“Our clients, when they talk about this struggle, it affects their self esteem, it affects their mental health,” Guinan said. “And that's just such a terrible burden, but it has a relatively easy solution — getting people the basic necessities that they need and deserve.”
In 2021, the Period Pantry also launched the Period P.R.I.D.E. initiative, through surveys and outreach, to learn about how to best meet the needs of members in the LGBTQ+ community.
Through this experience, they’ve been able to contribute to studies about the community’s experiences and needs and presented their findings at health conferences.
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With a growing number of clients — currently at an average of 507 per month, not counting those receiving products through community partners — Guinan’s ultimate goal for the organization might seem ironic: The pantry no longer exists and access to menstrual products becomes as obvious as toilet paper.
As Guinan looks to the future, she said she's looking forward to leaning into advocacy as a way to contribute to the ongoing movements within the state, working toward this vision of equity and accessibility.
“Hopefully, less people are suffering in silence,” Guinan said. “Hopefully, there are (less) people this year who would have missed work or school because they didn't have products, but they don't have to do that anymore. Every time we provide products, we know that family has peace of mind, at least for the next month.”
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Period Pantry Project provides pads, tampons and menstrual cups
