The Pink Project Battles Period Poverty

Fremont CA

19 October, 2021

11:54 PM

Description

A team of local teenagers are taking decisive action against period poverty and gender-based stigma in Bay Area communities. What is Period Poverty? Period poverty is the lack of access to menstrual hygiene products, and is a prominent part of the lives of many systematically disadvantaged groups. The average menstruator spends nearly $6360 on menstrual products in their lifetime. A 2019 Reuters survey found that 66% of low income women could not afford basic hygiene products. Over 1 in 5 of those women had the problem every single month, reporting being forced to use cloth, rags, toilet paper, and sometimes even diapers taken from public bathrooms. Legal inequities and societal stigma contribute to these menstruators’ struggles lasting for a lifetime. What are we doing to help? Founded in August 2020, the Pink Project, a student-led and federally-registered 501c3 organization, has donated almost ten thousand hygiene products to shelters and schools in Fremont, Berkeley, Castro Valley, and Union City, and engaged in a variety of awareness campaigns championing their cause. Founders Meghana Hariprasad and Mihika Balaji, seniors at Fremont’s American High School, first uncovered their passion for battling gender-based systemic inequality by educating themselves on the challenges homeless menstruators face while affording sanitary products. A year later, their organization spans over forty student ambassadors and volunteers throughout the Bay Area, and counting. The Pink Project has engaged in door-to-door campaigning, spreading their message to hundreds of residents countywide and garnering a sizable net of donors, sponsors, and supporters. Ranging from informational youtube videos to community seminars to social media campaigns, In spring, they partnered with local middle schools and the national organization PERIOD to educate local children about discriminatory menstrual product legislation and period stigma. Their project sees them visiting local educational communities again, partnering with Castro Valley High School and James Logan High School to distribute over a hundred hygiene care packages and a thousand sanitary products to students in need and raising awareness about period poverty on campus. Visit thepinkprojectca.org, follow @thepinkprojectca on Instagram, or email [email protected] to learn more about their work or support them on their mission. Be on the lookout for exciting events and fundraisers to get involved on their amazing mission!