I’m not sure where to post this, but I need help from my fellow Dopers please.
Monthly feminine care for women is expensive.
I wonder what our homeless young women do. If there’s no money to eat this need must be going unmet. Some of us have been “caught out there” without protection and it’s a horrible feeling to use a makeshift method until we can get home. I imagine how horrible the 5-7 days are for young homeless women.
I’ve tried to reach local organizations to see if I might use their addresses to have protection sent to them to distribute. So far, not one positive response.
Please, suggestions - I’m willing to send a box or too of napkins and tampons to anyone who’s willing to distribute them, but I’d like this to be bigger than just me donating what I can afford.
I have heard that homeless women tend to use cloth pads made of wadded-up strips of fabric, which they then throw away. I’m sure that if you wanted to donate unopened pads to a shelter or food bank you wouldn’t be turned away, though.
I commend you for wanting to help out. It’s something not many people think about but there is a definite need for. Thanks for thinking of others!
If there’s a low-income clinic near you, contact them. I know that the social worker at mine would be thrilled to get donations like this. Check out the YWCA too. I know ours downtown takes donations from anyone who takes the time to drop them off. You don’t need to talk to anyone beforehand. Just go in. I’m betting you can do that with a lot of shelters too, so don’t worry about waiting for someone to call back.
Many homeless women probably make their own pads using toilet paper from public restrooms. I’ve been known to do this myself when the need arises and I don’t have an alternative. It takes a little time to build one but you can make it thin or thick according to your needs that day. I like to use two pads, actually: a light upper pad that can be disposed of each bathroom visit and a heavier bottom pad for “just in case” that may or may not stay with me most of the day, depending on the overflow ratio.
It’s a pain if the t.p. dispenser is the stingy kind that makes you fight for every whole square you can get, but a homeless woman would probably learn pretty quickly where the more generous ones are.
Check with the shelters in your area. I know of several in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area that always welcome donations of that type. How thoughtful of you!!