NAPLES, Fla. — The Alliance for Period Supplies of SWFL is giving away millions of period products for women in Lee and Collier county.
"It's called period poverty," said Dusti Beaubien, the President of Alliance for Period Supplies of SWFL
It’s a hidden consequence of poverty and it’s something Beaubien plans to put an end to.
“Our goal is to provide 5,000 women and girls, transgenders with period products in Lee and Collier county consecutively every year," she said.
Since the non-profits start in 2019, they have given out more than 2 million pads to women in Southwest Florida.
A good start to a problem Beaubien says is swept under the rug.
“I mean we all knew it existed in third-world countries, but when we found out it existed in the U.S. because you can’t use food stamps or any other federal or state assistance program to buy period products, we were absolutely in shock,” said Beaubien.
On Monday, Beaubien said 1-4 women can’t afford to buy the feminine products they need.
The inability to access period supplies can force women to use unsafe house products such as rags or toilet paper and keep them from going to school or work.
“And these are the girls that need to be in school. And these are the women that are probably working hourly jobs and they need that money to put food on the table,” said Beaubien.
As a non-profit Beaubien says they buy their products at a discount from a manufacturer and use local partnerships to distribute them at 160 different locations in Lee and Collier county combined.
She says it costs them about $30 to provide one woman with period supplies for one year.
“So that gets us to about $150,000 a year for 5,000 women and girls,” said Beaubien.
The goal is to eventually convince the state of Florida to provide all schools with feminine products for free.
If you would like to connect with the Alliance for Period Supplies of SWFL, click here.
