It has been just a year since the Princeton Period Project started its work to help provide an affordable, reliable supply of feminine hygiene products, addressing what’s called “period poverty” that exists in the Princeton area and around the world (U.S. 1, November 7, 2018). We’ve distributed more than 60,000 period products in the Princeton public schools, at our parent organization Princeton Cornerstone Community Kitchen, and at agencies such as Womanspace, Arm in Arm, HomeFront, LifeTies, Rescue Mission of Trenton and more.
The items we distribute come from collections done by local businesses and employers such as Princeton University Press, Gloria Nilson & Co., YogaStream, Princeton Alumni Corps, University League Nursery School, Gratitude Yoga, FitBody Boot Camp, and others, as well as from “period parties” hosted by individuals for their friends and neighbors.
Thanks once again to the support from McCaffrey’s, we’ll be providing information and accepting product and cash donations at their Princeton market on Saturday, October 19, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. We’ll also be participating in the first National Period Day (also October 19), organized around the country by Period.org. The Princeton chapter of Period.org will be holding a rally from 3 to 4 p.m. on Hinds Plaza on Witherspoon Street.
Please join with us on October 19 so we can do even more to overcome period poverty and improve the lives of girls and women, enabling them to fully participate in school, work, and other activities.
Gil Gordon
Princeton Period Project Coordinator
Editor’s Note: “Period Day” will include rallies in all 50 states, many protesting the so-called “tampon tax,” a sales tax on feminine hygiene products that still exists in 35 states — though not in New Jersey.
New Jersey’s rally aims to drum up support for NJ S3645, which would make New Jersey the fifth state to provide free period products in some school bathrooms. The proposed law would offer state-funded supplies to schools serving grades 6 to 12 in which at least 40 percent of students live in households with income less than or equal to 185 percent of the federal poverty guidelines.
