May 25, 2023 • 34 mins
Half of the population menstruates. We all know plenty of women that have a period. But not everyone knows that two in five women struggle to purchase period supplies due to lack of income. This is called period poverty, and chances are we each know someone who has experienced this need – a neighbor, a co-worker, a friend. Joining MEternal is Vanessa Bracetti-Ormsby Founder of Expecting Relief and Jennifer Gaines Program Director for the Alliance for Period Supplies. No student should have to miss school, no adult should have to miss work, and no person should have to miss out on daily life because they are unable to afford the necessities they require to thrive. This conversation will help to ensure that women in need have access to essential period products required to participate fully in daily life.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
Maternal done. In the United Statestoday, there are over seventy million women
and girls between the ages of twelveand forty four, and that age is
particularly important because between the ages oftwelve and forty four you're most likely menstruating.
And so out of that over seventymillion women and girls, there's one
out of six that are living underthe federal poverty line. So that means
(00:25):
that one out of six women andgirls are already suffering by living in poverty.
They're experiencing things like housing insecurity,raising inflation prices on food and basic
necessities, and so they are experiencingan additional burden and not being able to
afford the period products that they needto go to work to get money and
(00:47):
their income and support their families,as well as young students that aren't able
to afford the product and go toschool and learn alongside their peers. Half
the population menstruates. We all knowplenty of women that have a period,
but not everyone knows that two andfive women struggle to purchase period supplies due
to lack of income. This iscalled period poverty, and chances are we
(01:07):
know someone who has experienced this need. A neighbor a co worker. A
friend joining me internal is Vanessa BrissettiOrmsby, founder of Expecting Relief, and
Jennifer Gaines, program director for theAlliance for Period Supplies. I think even
with the topic that we're going tobe talking about today, like period poverty,
it's just such a universal topic amongstwomen, but like not a very
(01:33):
universal topic when it comes to mainstreamAmerica, Which is why I'm so glad
that we're having this conversation today becauseit should be absolutely yeah, and any
more conversations. But then schools,just a regular community, any other organization
that's advocating, they should really haveworkshops, more workshops about the conversation.
(01:53):
And then also for the younger generation, for parents not to rely solely just
on the conversation within the school eitheror you know, just at home.
Yeah, why do you think it'sstill such an uncomfortable conversation to have.
I don't know if society thinks this, like, um, not normal to
(02:14):
have your menstrual and then when Butwhen you think about it, in order
for us to birth and recreate,that's part of the cycle, the process,
and no one really touches that topic. And if you want to chime
in on that. Yeah, Ithink, you know, as a woman
and a girl and a person whomenstrates, it's inherently something that we learn
(02:37):
growing up. Is it's just somethingthat we don't talk about um and so
it's the stigma behind talking about periods, and I think that's why some people
just don't talk about it. They'reuncomfortable with it, they don't know about
it, they're not educated on theissue. You know, half the population
doesn't menstrate, so you know,they don't want to hear anything about that.
(02:59):
And so I think, you know, we appreciate being on a platform
such as this because it reaches moreaudiences to normalize the conversation and destigmatize,
you know, talking about periods,because it is really an important issue.
I mean, it's a natural bodilyfunction that happens to half of the world
and unfortunately, there are millions ofwomen, girls and people who went straight
(03:20):
here in the United States that areaffected by period poverty. And so it's
important to talk about and it shouldn'tbe made fun of either, because always,
like the story is growing up toI mean, thankfully I never got
made fun of it, but I'vehad episodes and embarrassments you know, and
not knowing that you know it's comingbecause some people follow their psychle harror like
(03:42):
real heavy, I'm going to getit on this day. I'm going to
get out that day, and thenunexpectedly it's not It may be thrown off,
and then you don't have any supplieswith you, so you have an
embarrassing moment. It goes through yourclothing, and you know, people could
easily be mean about it, especiallywhen you're younger and younger like in elementary
school and things like that. Sodefinitely it's funny got and I hope I
(04:04):
don't get emotional about this, butit brought me back to when I was
I think it was twelve when Ifirst got my period, and you know,
it was like one of those thingslike topically, like you know,
my parents would like bring it upsporadically, but and I think they thought
that was like enough information for meto feel like, okay, I knew
what that was, or like tobe comfortable with it. So when I
got my period, it was likeI was embarrassed and I was ashamed to
(04:29):
share it with anybody, to thepoint where I didn't say anything to anybody
and I had gotten it when Iwas in school, and I was just
like trying to kind of figure outways to like help myself like get out
of the situation. Yeah, andlike you know, come up with solutions
on the spot to like not bleedthrough my clothes. And it was scary,
right because I you know, Ifinally got to the point where I
(04:50):
think my mom ended up asking me, like, did you did you get
your period? Because she was likedoing laundry. But like I hit it
for like the first few days thatI could hide it into the point where
she finally said something, and I, like, you know, had products
and stuff. But like I thinka lot of young girls feel that way,
and I feel like women in generallike just there's that stigma in our
(05:11):
head that it's something we should beembarrassed by, when like you were saying,
it's like a very natural part ofour lives. But I don't think
that we're made to feel that wayin society, which is why when we
do get it or we have anexperience with it, like we don't know
how to accept it as part ofour life and we just kind of figure
out how to deal with it psychologicallyon our own, right or yeah,
(05:34):
yeah, no, And I wouldsay too, is that you know,
and that's the issue, and Ithink you know. At the Alliance for
Period Supplies, we raise awareness aboutperiod poverty across the country on a national
level, and what we've been seeingover the last couple of years is that
we've been making tremendous effort in passingbills, particularly to provide free period products
(05:55):
in schools. But what we've seenrecently is that some of those things are
not so much accepted, and so, like access to menstrual hygiene education for
instance, period poverty is not onlythe inability to afford period products, but
it's also the lack of access toeducation. And so if our young girls
in schools are not learning how theirbody works and you know what happens when
(06:18):
you get that period, and wherecan you go to get a pad or
who you can talk to about somethingthat's happening, then we have an issue.
And so we want to ensure thatyoung people have the access to the
basic necessities that they need so thatthey can go to school so they don't
have those embarrassing moments they don't youknow. So it just is a ricocheting
(06:40):
effect when we take some of thosethings away and it's upsetting within the school
system too, because that's supposed tobe a safe, safe space also,
so you supposed to feel comfortable goingto like the guidance counsel or the nerves
right talk about it and get thesesupplies that you need. I know,
one of the schools that we werespeaking with, they said they do provide
pads, but not liked for themto take home. And I'm just like,
(07:02):
well why not, you know,and i don't know if that's part
of their budget. So I'm like, well, all kids should have some
type of kit if they're on theirmenstrul because these are title on schools anyway,
so they're coming they're in the lowincome community, so we already know
that in their household they're probably strugglingto afford it as well. So they
should be going home with a kitversus just being supplied with it, you
(07:26):
know, during the school hours.But they should also be having these conversations
during their budget meetings, which Ikeep stressing to them about being able to
provide these necessities for them also.But you know, that's up to the
school to figure out exactly what theywant to spend their money on and with
the budgets being cut everywhere, likewe don't know if that'll ever happen.
(07:47):
So you know, for us,since we do have our psycho relief under
expecting relief, we want to seewhat more we can do in providing What
are the dispensers you know, Imean they'd have them back in the day,
but you had to pay for it, So we mean like completely free
dispensers or putting in a vending machinethere and having the nurse or guidance counselor
(08:09):
giving them a code so they canhave the kit to take home, not
just for the you know, withinthe school hours, which again is such
an important space because you're you donatea lot of product. We actually had
a period poverty packing event today hereat IDAR, right, and well,
no, thank you. I meanyou came in with a bunch of products.
Thinks donated product as well. Youhave the Alliance for Period Supplies,
(08:33):
you donated product. So you know, we're just so thankful that we have
people like you in this space whoare actually doing the work. So the
kits that we put together today areactually going to go to Woodhall Hospital,
yeah st in New York City.Right. We prepared postpartum menstrual kits.
So that's going to be donated towhich is a hundred of them that will
(08:54):
be donated to the maternal department withWoodhall Hospital. Once you, of course
have your birthday next experience, youare in need of so much necessities in
general, you bring new life inthat costs a lot. And I'm a
mom of three under day to six, so I know the expenses. So
I'm just like, you know,it's very important that they get some type
of kit to at least like holdthem for a couple of weeks until they're
(09:16):
done, like you know, bleedingand everything's back to normal. So when
you're working with the Alliance for PeriodSupplies, like, like statistically, what
information is out there data wise thatyou guys are working from. Yeah,
well, I love that question becausewe are definitely evidence based and so I'll
kind of put it in a nationalperspective for you. In the United States
(09:37):
today, there are over seventy millionwomen and girls between the ages of twelve
and forty four, and that ageis particularly important because between the ages of
twelve and forty four, you're mostlikely menstruating, and so out of that
over seventy million women and girls.There's one out of six that are living
under the federal poverty line, Sothat means that one out of six women
(09:58):
and girls are already suffering by livingin poverty. They're experiencing things like housing
insecurity, food insecurity, you know, raising inflation prices on food and basic
necessities, and so they are experiencingan additional burden and not being able to
afford the period products that they needto go to work to get money and
(10:22):
their income and support their families,as well as young students that aren't able
to afford the product and go toschool and learn alongside their peers. And
so that's kind of like the nationalperspective of it. And then many communities
across the country are suffering in somany different ways that you know a lot
of people don't understand. There's youknow, our black and brown communities are
suffering at higher rates disproportionately. Youknow, folks that are living in rural
(10:46):
areas that don't have access to stores, Folks in the indigenous community, you
know, folks that are houseless anddon't have a place to go. So
there are so many, you know, communities and individuals across this country that
are are that need help, andunfortunately they're suffering in silence because not only
(11:07):
is it stigmatized to live in povertyand not have the money that you need
to go to the grocery store andpick up food or or period supplies,
there's also the stigma behind periods.So you know, it's kind of like
that double stigma of I can't affordanything, and I also can't afford these
period products. And so we're hopingto support this national network and mobilize organizations
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like Expecting a Relief. UM.We partner with over one hundred and thirty
nonprofit organizations to raise this awareness aboutall of these individuals that are suffering.
And it's not only just you know, distributing period products and that's going to
end period poverty. No, weneed to have platforms like this so that
we can raise awareness and have folksUM, you know, identify the issue
(11:54):
in their communities. UM. Thereare the people that are doing the work.
Finess is amazing, all of theseleaders that are on the grassroot levels.
We wouldn't be here if it wasn'tfor them, and so we need
folks to identify this issue. Andyou know, we need the philanthropy,
you know, community to come inand chip in their money to help support
these programs. We need to informelected officials. You know, half the
(12:15):
elected officials don't menstrate, so theydon't know how important it is. They
love to pass a bill acting likethey know what we should be doing with
our bodies, which is upsetting inthat whole political world. I mean,
I'm not into politics, but advocating, I've learned a lot and it does
upset me to know that men wantto like ban certain things, And it's
(12:37):
just like, are you insane?Like we need this, like you know,
we we know that this needs tobe talked about, especially with you
know where we were talking about theFlorida band to have the conversation, I
think under sixth grade or something ofthat nature. Yeah, the statistics specifically,
I'm not sure of. I doknow that they are pushing for a
(12:58):
ban on menstrual education, which isnot It doesn't make sense. It doesn't
make sense at all. So whatI mean, guess I get what age
should we start talking to girls about. Everyone feels sefially about the age or
when conversations should happen. I mean, I have a six year old daughter,
at least seven tomorrow. So I'mjust I was just talking to one
(13:20):
of the employees here that was amale that he has daughters, and he
was saying, well, that's probablya little bit too young to talk to
her about it, and I'm like, well maybe so, or am I
just going to let her come tome or you know, I'm still trying
to figure that out, you know, but at least I have that experience
with having a little girl right now, she's really questioning like births. She
(13:43):
has a fascination with births and lactationand things like that off of just like
attending the events that we do.So I don't hide it from her,
but we just never touched on,like, you know, a period.
So I would say, I don'tknow, I mean I think, I
mean, I think there's never tooearly of an age to talk about it.
(14:03):
So I actually did you know,reproductive health education for over ten years
and underserved communities, And what Ifound is that even going into elementary schools,
even where you know young girls arenot menstruating, is just going in
there and talking about self esteem andbeing proud of yourself and just starting that
those conversations. So that then whenthey get to the point where they are
(14:24):
menstruating, they already have instilled inthem this, you know, this proudness
of who they are and also becomingallies, you know, bringing in boys
and girls into the conversation. I'malso a mom of two. I have
two boys, two very young boys, three and five. The three year
old already knows what a pad is. He's like, you know, he
points to It's like that's for mommy, right, But that's mommy's yeah,
(14:50):
and he We don't necessarily have tohave the conversation of like periods and all
that kind of stuff. But Ithink that's starting to build that knowledge so
that my sons can at one pointbecome an ally. If they are at
school and they notice that a girlyou know, needs help right hot,
needs access, they can be thatvoice for them if they feel like it's
(15:11):
not weird to them, right,Because I feel like there's like this bandwidth
with guys, like you bring upperiod as a topic, and like you
can see their attend attend here askingthem and you know, yeah, but
that's interesting because I do think likewe can all be resourceful in a way.
(15:33):
Like for example, you said aboutlike seeing somebody in need and being
able to meet that need because weknow enough about it and it's not so
weird of a topic that we're like, we're so standoffice that we don't supply
someone's need, right, which Ithink is what this is about today,
right. And I was reading abouthow some women, because they don't have
period products will actually stay home,they won't go, which to me,
(15:56):
I'm like, you would think thatwe were in some you know, third
world country, that that that's happeninghere in America, and that's just so
sad to me. And sometimes theyjust there's not enough resources out there,
a word to get you know,products at for free. A lot of
organizations are not you know, partof any alliance for periods or anything like
(16:17):
that. So it's it's really aboutgetting the word out there that we here,
we have the basic necessities that youneed so they could know who to
go to. I was gonna saysomething else and just slipped out my head.
No, it's okay. But butgoing even going back to what you
said earlier about the confidence piece,right, there's something psychologically that happens to
(16:37):
you as a young girl when youhave it for the first time, where
if you're not empowered to be like, oh, like I know what this
is, and I know what's happeningwith my body. You almost feel like
demeaned in a way, Like it'slike a demeaning experience. If you're not
taught that this is like a naturalthing and it's a part of life,
you're like ashamed of what's happening toyour body because you don't know enough about
(16:59):
that. So I love that you'reeducating young girls in that space because I
remember feeling like that, Like I'dbe like, to me, it was
the worst time of the month becauseI was like, ah, I just
people just related to like cramps whenthey talk about periods. Oh, you
know, there's so much more psychologicalalmost like I would I remember cowering like
at that time, you know,and I and as a young girl,
I didn't really have a great selfesteem to begin with, so like,
(17:22):
when you have this other external thingthat's happening, like you you hide it,
right, and you're just like thisis another of me not feeling good
about myself, right. So Ijust think it's so important that young girls
are equipped with information so they understandwhat's happening to their bodies and like they're
not taking on that extra emotional layerwhen unnecessarily. I think that that,
(17:45):
um, all women and younger girlsbeing taught this should just be taught that.
Um. It's it's a powerful thinglike that. We have that power
to menstrate and recreate and that's thereason why we menstrate and really like highlight
that, you know, And Ithink it's I think a general like,
(18:07):
women are just so powerful, butwe don't really instill that power in them.
You know, it's just always justbanning and staying away from these hypotopics.
But that's not going to help usat all, you know. And
I think it's exceptionally important too thatfirst of all, I feel very powerful
to be in this room right now, in the diversity and being a Latina
growing up. I mean, whenI first got my period, the first
(18:30):
thing was like, okay, makesure you don't get pregnant, Like that
was the first thing. I didn'tlearn anything else outside of that. And
I think that, you know,being a black and brown young girl in
this society, there are so manythings that are trying to kind of take
you down and break down that selfesteem, right, and so it's so
it's so important to build up thatself esteem in historically underresourced communities and just
(18:56):
shank like, we are beautiful,we are amazing and you should know that.
And so building that from a reallyyoung age and then getting to the
point where you know, they doget their periods and they are in this
you know, different world of nowhaving to access period products and go to
school and stuff. Is you know, we want to eliminate that barrier,
right it is there so many thingsgoing on in this world right now,
(19:18):
is that if we could just eliminatethat barrier, give them the product that
they need, they can go towork, they can go to school,
and they can earn an income andlearn alongside their peers. And that's really
the most important thing is is elevatingand really amplifying the work that you all
are doing on the ground with Titleone schools and you know, folks in
(19:38):
the community that are suffering. AndI think corporations that have period supplies should
always put some type of budget tothe side to specifically donate to organizations that
are pushing the movement, because it'llhelp us be sustainable with providing the products
as well as nonprofits. You alreadyknow it's like you know, begging for
(20:00):
money to say so, which iscrazy. Yeah, so and then and
then if you don't have a greatstory, it's just like you don't get
it. So, you know,we do rely solely on donations, but
donations don't always come, so wealways have to pull in other ways.
We're doing drives or anything like that. But I really really feel like all
these organizations are coming out with theseperiod supplies should have a separate budget to
(20:23):
donate to these organizations, and thatwill help us reach more people. You
know, we'll be able to providemore and we'll be capable of doing it.
Yeah, speaking of resources, whatare other resources that are out there
that are available in this space?Would you say, I mean outside of
what you're doing. I mean you'redoing, you have your own organization,
(20:44):
you're donating product, you're doing likeall these different things, like are there
any information or resources or like Iknow, we have the Alliance for Period
Supplies like so my other movements,Yeah, like on your platform for example,
like what are some of your keyinitiatives that are important to you right
now? Yeah, for sure.So we collect data from our national network
in order to create kind of likea talking points for folks so that they
(21:08):
can take this information and say,Okay, in the state of New York
or in whatever state you are in, here are the statistics of the folks
that are that are suffering, arethat you know, are affected by period
poverty, so that you can thengo ahead and have conversations to destigmatize periods
and then also inform elected officials.That's one of our top things is advocacy.
(21:29):
So on the local, state andfederal level, we are advocating to
advance bills for specifically gender equity andmaking sure that products are available in schools
and states aren't taxing period products asif they're luxury items, because we all
know that they are not luxury,they are basic necessities, and so we
have you know things on our website, Alliance for Period Supplies dot org.
(21:52):
You can download, you know,host a period product drive to learn the
steps on how you can do that. You know how what does that entail?
You know, educating your community oryour friends, your neighbors, your
partner, your family. Whatever itis is saying hey, I put together
a you know, an Amazon wishlist, or hey can you buy me
an extra pad of an extra pairof a box of pads or something so
that I can then donate to mylocal community. We have those resources on
(22:15):
there, and as a national organizationin general, we help to support the
expansion of organizations, and so wedo that by providing products from our you
know, our sponsors whoever liked todonate from to us thinks as wonderfully last
year had donated over thirty thousand pairof underwears that we were able to distribute
(22:37):
throughout our communities. Um and thenalso providing them with grants in order to
little things like securing warehouse space sothat they can collect product, or hiring
staff or you know, running periodproduct drives. Is you know, those
are some of the things that wedo to help kind of expand and mobilize
this this network. That's great,that's great. So coming back to expecting
(23:00):
relief, like I know, youdo a lot of events in the community.
You have the supply drive that you'redoing with you know, the period
poverty things. You also do adiaper distribution, Yes, you do community
baby showers. You do all thesethings. So talk a little bit about
that and then how Maternal has partneredwith you in that space, Yeah,
which is is so funny. Sowe are expecting Relief. We're based out
(23:25):
of Brooklyn, New York and EastNew York and our mission is to create
community based solutions towards poverty, hunger, and miss education. And so we
offer five services to tackle the socialor vulnerable insecurities our community face, which
is our food, diaper cycle,literacy, and maternal slash dual A relief.
(23:47):
We are like our community knows us. They rely on us and we
build a great relationship with them towhere we you know, acts, you
know, what do you in needof? You know, we just don't
want to come here and say,you know, we know you need this.
We want you to have a voiceand let us know what can we
do to help you. So wealso do community baby showers and as far
(24:11):
as educating moms about their rights,their birthing rights. And that's how we
came across maternal with you guys reachingout to us to be a part of
the event. So we were ableto build that relationship with you guys,
and so we are father thankful forthat thing. We're thankful for you,
right because you know, one ofthe things that I've learned about building this
(24:32):
platform is we wanted it to becredible, right and we don't know at
all, right, so we wantedto partner with experts who are like doing
the work in this space and doingit really well. So like it's been
a really wonderful partnership and that I'vebeen to your events before. I mean,
this is doing God's work right,And I mean you're feeding hundreds and
(24:53):
hundreds of families every single month,right, and you're giving out diapers,
and it's like and that's a huge, huge undertaking. So like, how
did you get into this space?Well, it started about eleven years ago
and we had a family friend whocame out of nowhere and just popped up
and she was pregnant, living inthe shelter and she was in need.
(25:15):
So we provided for her and sheended up stealing from us after providing.
So I was upset at probably forlike a couple of hours, but it
was nothing of value. It wasjust a principle behind it, and so
I understood the desperate act and Iturned it into expecting relief and I was
just thinking, like what if shewas to get arrested and stole out of
(25:37):
a store like that would be moretraumatizing for her being pregnant. Knowing that
she's in need. So we formedthe organization and it had some delays in
between, but I would say thatwe've been emerging a little bit before COVID
hit, we should have been emerging, and so we decided we were able
to become a food pantry because ofCOVID and the agencies recognizing what we were
(26:04):
doing and allowing us to be partof ag scenes with them, so we
would have freed everyone. And thenwe got into diaper poverty. So we
became members of the National Diaper BankNetwork, which is the system brand right
of Alliance Superiod Supplies, and that'show we were introduced to the Alliance Superiod
Supplies by becoming members with them,and so we all kind of we just
knew that it just all just tome, it's all necessities that it's needed
(26:30):
in the community. So we wantedto be able to provide that for them
and it's something new to the communityand they're so grateful because it's it's a
need. And right now we partnerwith Dance Atlanta to run our distributions,
but we actually receive a donated spaceto work and operate out of for two
years under Cypress Hills Local Development corporations. So we'll be having our grand opening
(26:53):
in June, so we're excited aboutthat. And it's going to be basically
a community ntry boutique, just asafe place to get all of your basic
necessities. But we also want tohave workshops. It's not just about getting
your supplies and that's it. Wewant to you know, be able to
educate you on, you know,the issues that we're having and also invite
more men to have these conversations withyou know, come with their child or
(27:18):
their wife, to have those conversationssurrounding period. I think we need more
of the advocacy with men in thoseconversations, so we definitely want to promote
that as well. And yeah,I mean, I think you said something
very powerful in the beginning, andI don't think you realize what you said.
You were you were talking describing thestory about the young lady that you
(27:40):
helped, right, so instead ofbecoming better about the situation, you're like,
wow, like I have a solutionfor this. So you took someone
shortcoming, didn't judge them, buttried to understand the root cause to which
they made that decision, and createda community solution, which to me is
like, wow, right, likethat's so powerful. Yeah, And I
(28:02):
definitely I don't ever judge anyone,Like I'm just judgment free zone. Everyone
has a story. But you know, she was just going through something,
and so I just took her experienceand thought about everyone else and the shelter
system that's going through something. Andyou don't necessarily have to live in a
shelter to go through something. Butthat just helped me realize that there was
a need and what can I do? You know? And it started off
with me and my sisters, butit just became me. You know,
(28:26):
they weren't as past passionate about itas I was, and I was okay
with that. So I started justdoing you know, more research and just
really realizing that there's just a lotof women out there that's really really in
need. And I don't always wantto just say, you know, the
woman, because it's that's the majority, but we do have single father's,
(28:47):
single men that also are our needthat don't get highlighted because it's just always
gearing towards the woman because that's whatwe used to that's the woman that are
taking care of everything. But youknow, I ALWASO want to incorporate men
because there are men out there thatare in situations and our single dads and
are stepping up to the plate andtaking care of their children that need help
as well. And you brought somethingtoday to the event that we did downstairs,
(29:11):
your proclamation from Blimborough President A Tonyover No so so tell us about
that. Well, he's you know, I shout out to Antonio Ronaso.
He is very supportive with the wholematernal movement and anything that has to do
with you know, women, andso we just submit it for the Awareness
Period Poverty Awareness Week, which startsto May twenty seconds to May twenty eighth,
(29:36):
and that's one of the things thatthe Alliance period supply helps us to
obtain as well. So they're reallyheavy on the advacy with getting these proclamations
because we are bringing awareness to eventhe officials that are approving it. They're
now understanding like what this is andthey have a say and whether they're going
to approve it or not. Butyou know, we were very thankful we
(29:56):
picked it up the proclamation yesterday andit's just kind of all aligned with what
we were doing. It just cameright in time. So we picked up.
Yes, say you've brung it today, and I'm like, oh,
this is wonderful. Yeah it was. And you didn't even say anything about
you just kind of like I'm like, I'm like, proclamation is this?
This is like amazing? So yeah, good because I'm not good at highlighting
myself and the work that I dobecause it just comes natural, because it's
just a part of me. It'sjust something that I feel like I'm supposed
(30:18):
to be doing. And I feellike everyone should have some type of heart
to give, you know, likeeven like you know, my mom always
taught me that too growing up.You know, we sometimes carry just singles
and throughout the day when someone's inneed and they ask for it, will
give a dollar to them and thena dollar to someone else and it'll help
them, you know, go along way with that. But that it's
(30:38):
just and so I'm really bad athighlighting my work or highlighting me in general,
really bad at that. Well I'lltell you this, Your reward in
heaven is great. Yeah, yourspirit of compassion is just so admirable.
Thank you. Rare and rare forsure. So I kind of want to
bring it back full circle to yourorganization. So where can people go to
(31:00):
find out information on period poverty,what they can do, how they can
get involved, like all the things. Yeah, for sure. Well,
first of all, I just wantto say, Vanessa, you are amazing.
I mean, she really is soselfless and and that's the that's the
best part that I love about myjob is that we just learn so much
from founders and folks that identify theissue from across the country and just have
(31:23):
so many different stories. But ifyou want to learn more about periods poverty,
you can go to Alliance for PeriodSupplies dot org. We have many
resources available there. And then alsothis week, as Vanessa had mentioned,
it's Period Poverty Awareness Week, Sothis is a national campaign that we started
four years ago to raise awareness aboutperiod poverty and amplify the work that folks
(31:47):
are doing on the ground across thecountry. So follow us on Instagram at
period Supplies, on Facebook Alliance forPeriod Supplies and Twitter at period Supplies,
and you'll start to see you know, some you know, more information being
sent out social media content. We'resharing all of the wonderful work that our
allied programs are doing. So yeah, that those are those are the main
(32:08):
resources that you want to, andyou can catch us on Instagram and Facebook
at Expecting Relief straight through nothing inbetween, Expecting Relief and log on to
www Dot Expecting Reliefs dot org andyou can find out about more of our
services and then just inquire how youcan get our help if you're in need.
That's great. Well, listen,we appreciate you both. We appreciate
(32:30):
the work that you're doing in thisspace, and we appreciate the opportunity to
have this conversation and we appreciate foryou allowing us to come and have this
conversation also, and we need thismore. Yeah, we need to normalize
these type of conversations. Yeah,And I also wanted to highlight um rock
Sham pasade out on a Rock Shampasade she's having. We're actually to be
(32:50):
a part of the panel on Thursdaysurrounding period poverty and we submitted was it
the competition with Kimberly Clarkson alongside CenterPassard, and we won, so we
were able to get one thousand dollarsworth of period supplies donated. So she's
actually going to be doing the distributionin Brooklyn with the period supplies the same
(33:13):
day that we're going to be onthe panel. I'm having the discussion.
That's great, and where can peopledonate supplies and all that to you.
We have a new address now,okay, but we're not opening till June.
So I would say if they wantto reach out to you and inquire
about how they can don't Yeah,they can info at Expecting Relief dot org
(33:35):
or you can message us on socialmedia. We'll respond. Thank you ladies
for joining us in studio today onMe Turnal. I am Kenya Gibson and
I which is joined in studio todayby Vanessa Prissetti ormsby Expecting Relief Founder and
executive director and Jennifer Gaines for theAlliance of Period Supplies. Thank you so
much for being here today. You'relistening to Me Turnal on iHeartRadio. No
(34:00):
students should have to miss school,no adults should have to miss work,
and no person should have to missout on daily life because they are unable
to afford the necessities they require tothrive. This conversation will help ensure that
women in need have access to essentialperiod products required to participate fully in daily
life. Visit Meternal dot info formore ways. iHeartRadio is creating awareness around
(34:23):
issues in the maternal health space forcommunities of color.
Maternal done. In the United Statestoday, there are over seventy million women
and girls between the ages of twelveand forty four, and that age is
particularly important because between the ages oftwelve and forty four you're most likely menstruating.
And so out of that over seventymillion women and girls, there's one
out of six that are living underthe federal poverty line. So that means
(00:25):
that one out of six women andgirls are already suffering by living in poverty.
They're experiencing things like housing insecurity,raising inflation prices on food and basic
necessities, and so they are experiencingan additional burden and not being able to
afford the period products that they needto go to work to get money and
(00:47):
their income and support their families,as well as young students that aren't able
to afford the product and go toschool and learn alongside their peers. Half
the population menstruates. We all knowplenty of women that have a period,
but not everyone knows that two andfive women struggle to purchase period supplies due
to lack of income. This iscalled period poverty, and chances are we
(01:07):
know someone who has experienced this need. A neighbor a co worker. A
friend joining me internal is Vanessa BrissettiOrmsby, founder of Expecting Relief, and
Jennifer Gaines, program director for theAlliance for Period Supplies. I think even
with the topic that we're going tobe talking about today, like period poverty,
it's just such a universal topic amongstwomen, but like not a very
(01:33):
universal topic when it comes to mainstreamAmerica, Which is why I'm so glad
that we're having this conversation today becauseit should be absolutely yeah, and any
more conversations. But then schools,just a regular community, any other organization
that's advocating, they should really haveworkshops, more workshops about the conversation.
(01:53):
And then also for the younger generation, for parents not to rely solely just
on the conversation within the school eitheror you know, just at home.
Yeah, why do you think it'sstill such an uncomfortable conversation to have.
I don't know if society thinks this, like, um, not normal to
(02:14):
have your menstrual and then when Butwhen you think about it, in order
for us to birth and recreate,that's part of the cycle, the process,
and no one really touches that topic. And if you want to chime
in on that. Yeah, Ithink, you know, as a woman
and a girl and a person whomenstrates, it's inherently something that we learn
(02:37):
growing up. Is it's just somethingthat we don't talk about um and so
it's the stigma behind talking about periods, and I think that's why some people
just don't talk about it. They'reuncomfortable with it, they don't know about
it, they're not educated on theissue. You know, half the population
doesn't menstrate, so you know,they don't want to hear anything about that.
(02:59):
And so I think, you know, we appreciate being on a platform
such as this because it reaches moreaudiences to normalize the conversation and destigmatize,
you know, talking about periods,because it is really an important issue.
I mean, it's a natural bodilyfunction that happens to half of the world
and unfortunately, there are millions ofwomen, girls and people who went straight
(03:20):
here in the United States that areaffected by period poverty. And so it's
important to talk about and it shouldn'tbe made fun of either, because always,
like the story is growing up toI mean, thankfully I never got
made fun of it, but I'vehad episodes and embarrassments you know, and
not knowing that you know it's comingbecause some people follow their psychle harror like
(03:42):
real heavy, I'm going to getit on this day. I'm going to
get out that day, and thenunexpectedly it's not It may be thrown off,
and then you don't have any supplieswith you, so you have an
embarrassing moment. It goes through yourclothing, and you know, people could
easily be mean about it, especiallywhen you're younger and younger like in elementary
school and things like that. Sodefinitely it's funny got and I hope I
(04:04):
don't get emotional about this, butit brought me back to when I was
I think it was twelve when Ifirst got my period, and you know,
it was like one of those thingslike topically, like you know,
my parents would like bring it upsporadically, but and I think they thought
that was like enough information for meto feel like, okay, I knew
what that was, or like tobe comfortable with it. So when I
got my period, it was likeI was embarrassed and I was ashamed to
(04:29):
share it with anybody, to thepoint where I didn't say anything to anybody
and I had gotten it when Iwas in school, and I was just
like trying to kind of figure outways to like help myself like get out
of the situation. Yeah, andlike you know, come up with solutions
on the spot to like not bleedthrough my clothes. And it was scary,
right because I you know, Ifinally got to the point where I
(04:50):
think my mom ended up asking me, like, did you did you get
your period? Because she was likedoing laundry. But like I hit it
for like the first few days thatI could hide it into the point where
she finally said something, and I, like, you know, had products
and stuff. But like I thinka lot of young girls feel that way,
and I feel like women in generallike just there's that stigma in our
(05:11):
head that it's something we should beembarrassed by, when like you were saying,
it's like a very natural part ofour lives. But I don't think
that we're made to feel that wayin society, which is why when we
do get it or we have anexperience with it, like we don't know
how to accept it as part ofour life and we just kind of figure
out how to deal with it psychologicallyon our own, right or yeah,
(05:34):
yeah, no, And I wouldsay too, is that you know,
and that's the issue, and Ithink you know. At the Alliance for
Period Supplies, we raise awareness aboutperiod poverty across the country on a national
level, and what we've been seeingover the last couple of years is that
we've been making tremendous effort in passingbills, particularly to provide free period products
(05:55):
in schools. But what we've seenrecently is that some of those things are
not so much accepted, and so, like access to menstrual hygiene education for
instance, period poverty is not onlythe inability to afford period products, but
it's also the lack of access toeducation. And so if our young girls
in schools are not learning how theirbody works and you know what happens when
(06:18):
you get that period, and wherecan you go to get a pad or
who you can talk to about somethingthat's happening, then we have an issue.
And so we want to ensure thatyoung people have the access to the
basic necessities that they need so thatthey can go to school so they don't
have those embarrassing moments they don't youknow. So it just is a ricocheting
(06:40):
effect when we take some of thosethings away and it's upsetting within the school
system too, because that's supposed tobe a safe, safe space also,
so you supposed to feel comfortable goingto like the guidance counsel or the nerves
right talk about it and get thesesupplies that you need. I know,
one of the schools that we werespeaking with, they said they do provide
pads, but not liked for themto take home. And I'm just like,
(07:02):
well why not, you know,and i don't know if that's part
of their budget. So I'm like, well, all kids should have some
type of kit if they're on theirmenstrul because these are title on schools anyway,
so they're coming they're in the lowincome community, so we already know
that in their household they're probably strugglingto afford it as well. So they
should be going home with a kitversus just being supplied with it, you
(07:26):
know, during the school hours.But they should also be having these conversations
during their budget meetings, which Ikeep stressing to them about being able to
provide these necessities for them also.But you know, that's up to the
school to figure out exactly what theywant to spend their money on and with
the budgets being cut everywhere, likewe don't know if that'll ever happen.
(07:47):
So you know, for us,since we do have our psycho relief under
expecting relief, we want to seewhat more we can do in providing What
are the dispensers you know, Imean they'd have them back in the day,
but you had to pay for it, So we mean like completely free
dispensers or putting in a vending machinethere and having the nurse or guidance counselor
(08:09):
giving them a code so they canhave the kit to take home, not
just for the you know, withinthe school hours, which again is such
an important space because you're you donatea lot of product. We actually had
a period poverty packing event today hereat IDAR, right, and well,
no, thank you. I meanyou came in with a bunch of products.
Thinks donated product as well. Youhave the Alliance for Period Supplies,
(08:33):
you donated product. So you know, we're just so thankful that we have
people like you in this space whoare actually doing the work. So the
kits that we put together today areactually going to go to Woodhall Hospital,
yeah st in New York City.Right. We prepared postpartum menstrual kits.
So that's going to be donated towhich is a hundred of them that will
(08:54):
be donated to the maternal department withWoodhall Hospital. Once you, of course
have your birthday next experience, youare in need of so much necessities in
general, you bring new life inthat costs a lot. And I'm a
mom of three under day to six, so I know the expenses. So
I'm just like, you know,it's very important that they get some type
of kit to at least like holdthem for a couple of weeks until they're
(09:16):
done, like you know, bleedingand everything's back to normal. So when
you're working with the Alliance for PeriodSupplies, like, like statistically, what
information is out there data wise thatyou guys are working from. Yeah,
well, I love that question becausewe are definitely evidence based and so I'll
kind of put it in a nationalperspective for you. In the United States
(09:37):
today, there are over seventy millionwomen and girls between the ages of twelve
and forty four, and that ageis particularly important because between the ages of
twelve and forty four, you're mostlikely menstruating, and so out of that
over seventy million women and girls.There's one out of six that are living
under the federal poverty line, Sothat means that one out of six women
(09:58):
and girls are already suffering by livingin poverty. They're experiencing things like housing
insecurity, food insecurity, you know, raising inflation prices on food and basic
necessities, and so they are experiencingan additional burden and not being able to
afford the period products that they needto go to work to get money and
(10:22):
their income and support their families,as well as young students that aren't able
to afford the product and go toschool and learn alongside their peers. And
so that's kind of like the nationalperspective of it. And then many communities
across the country are suffering in somany different ways that you know a lot
of people don't understand. There's youknow, our black and brown communities are
suffering at higher rates disproportionately. Youknow, folks that are living in rural
(10:46):
areas that don't have access to stores, Folks in the indigenous community, you
know, folks that are houseless anddon't have a place to go. So
there are so many, you know, communities and individuals across this country that
are are that need help, andunfortunately they're suffering in silence because not only
(11:07):
is it stigmatized to live in povertyand not have the money that you need
to go to the grocery store andpick up food or or period supplies,
there's also the stigma behind periods.So you know, it's kind of like
that double stigma of I can't affordanything, and I also can't afford these
period products. And so we're hopingto support this national network and mobilize organizations
(11:31):
like Expecting a Relief. UM.We partner with over one hundred and thirty
nonprofit organizations to raise this awareness aboutall of these individuals that are suffering.
And it's not only just you know, distributing period products and that's going to
end period poverty. No, weneed to have platforms like this so that
we can raise awareness and have folksUM, you know, identify the issue
(11:54):
in their communities. UM. Thereare the people that are doing the work.
Finess is amazing, all of theseleaders that are on the grassroot levels.
We wouldn't be here if it wasn'tfor them, and so we need
folks to identify this issue. Andyou know, we need the philanthropy,
you know, community to come inand chip in their money to help support
these programs. We need to informelected officials. You know, half the
(12:15):
elected officials don't menstrate, so theydon't know how important it is. They
love to pass a bill acting likethey know what we should be doing with
our bodies, which is upsetting inthat whole political world. I mean,
I'm not into politics, but advocating, I've learned a lot and it does
upset me to know that men wantto like ban certain things, And it's
(12:37):
just like, are you insane?Like we need this, like you know,
we we know that this needs tobe talked about, especially with you
know where we were talking about theFlorida band to have the conversation, I
think under sixth grade or something ofthat nature. Yeah, the statistics specifically,
I'm not sure of. I doknow that they are pushing for a
(12:58):
ban on menstrual education, which isnot It doesn't make sense. It doesn't
make sense at all. So whatI mean, guess I get what age
should we start talking to girls about. Everyone feels sefially about the age or
when conversations should happen. I mean, I have a six year old daughter,
at least seven tomorrow. So I'mjust I was just talking to one
(13:20):
of the employees here that was amale that he has daughters, and he
was saying, well, that's probablya little bit too young to talk to
her about it, and I'm like, well maybe so, or am I
just going to let her come tome or you know, I'm still trying
to figure that out, you know, but at least I have that experience
with having a little girl right now, she's really questioning like births. She
(13:43):
has a fascination with births and lactationand things like that off of just like
attending the events that we do.So I don't hide it from her,
but we just never touched on,like, you know, a period.
So I would say, I don'tknow, I mean I think, I
mean, I think there's never tooearly of an age to talk about it.
(14:03):
So I actually did you know,reproductive health education for over ten years
and underserved communities, And what Ifound is that even going into elementary schools,
even where you know young girls arenot menstruating, is just going in
there and talking about self esteem andbeing proud of yourself and just starting that
those conversations. So that then whenthey get to the point where they are
(14:24):
menstruating, they already have instilled inthem this, you know, this proudness
of who they are and also becomingallies, you know, bringing in boys
and girls into the conversation. I'malso a mom of two. I have
two boys, two very young boys, three and five. The three year
old already knows what a pad is. He's like, you know, he
points to It's like that's for mommy, right, But that's mommy's yeah,
(14:50):
and he We don't necessarily have tohave the conversation of like periods and all
that kind of stuff. But Ithink that's starting to build that knowledge so
that my sons can at one pointbecome an ally. If they are at
school and they notice that a girlyou know, needs help right hot,
needs access, they can be thatvoice for them if they feel like it's
(15:11):
not weird to them, right,Because I feel like there's like this bandwidth
with guys, like you bring upperiod as a topic, and like you
can see their attend attend here askingthem and you know, yeah, but
that's interesting because I do think likewe can all be resourceful in a way.
(15:33):
Like for example, you said aboutlike seeing somebody in need and being
able to meet that need because weknow enough about it and it's not so
weird of a topic that we're like, we're so standoffice that we don't supply
someone's need, right, which Ithink is what this is about today,
right. And I was reading abouthow some women, because they don't have
period products will actually stay home,they won't go, which to me,
(15:56):
I'm like, you would think thatwe were in some you know, third
world country, that that that's happeninghere in America, and that's just so
sad to me. And sometimes theyjust there's not enough resources out there,
a word to get you know,products at for free. A lot of
organizations are not you know, partof any alliance for periods or anything like
(16:17):
that. So it's it's really aboutgetting the word out there that we here,
we have the basic necessities that youneed so they could know who to
go to. I was gonna saysomething else and just slipped out my head.
No, it's okay. But butgoing even going back to what you
said earlier about the confidence piece,right, there's something psychologically that happens to
(16:37):
you as a young girl when youhave it for the first time, where
if you're not empowered to be like, oh, like I know what this
is, and I know what's happeningwith my body. You almost feel like
demeaned in a way, Like it'slike a demeaning experience. If you're not
taught that this is like a naturalthing and it's a part of life,
you're like ashamed of what's happening toyour body because you don't know enough about
(16:59):
that. So I love that you'reeducating young girls in that space because I
remember feeling like that, Like I'dbe like, to me, it was
the worst time of the month becauseI was like, ah, I just
people just related to like cramps whenthey talk about periods. Oh, you
know, there's so much more psychologicalalmost like I would I remember cowering like
at that time, you know,and I and as a young girl,
I didn't really have a great selfesteem to begin with, so like,
(17:22):
when you have this other external thingthat's happening, like you you hide it,
right, and you're just like thisis another of me not feeling good
about myself, right. So Ijust think it's so important that young girls
are equipped with information so they understandwhat's happening to their bodies and like they're
not taking on that extra emotional layerwhen unnecessarily. I think that that,
(17:45):
um, all women and younger girlsbeing taught this should just be taught that.
Um. It's it's a powerful thinglike that. We have that power
to menstrate and recreate and that's thereason why we menstrate and really like highlight
that, you know, And Ithink it's I think a general like,
(18:07):
women are just so powerful, butwe don't really instill that power in them.
You know, it's just always justbanning and staying away from these hypotopics.
But that's not going to help usat all, you know. And
I think it's exceptionally important too thatfirst of all, I feel very powerful
to be in this room right now, in the diversity and being a Latina
growing up. I mean, whenI first got my period, the first
(18:30):
thing was like, okay, makesure you don't get pregnant, Like that
was the first thing. I didn'tlearn anything else outside of that. And
I think that, you know,being a black and brown young girl in
this society, there are so manythings that are trying to kind of take
you down and break down that selfesteem, right, and so it's so
it's so important to build up thatself esteem in historically underresourced communities and just
(18:56):
shank like, we are beautiful,we are amazing and you should know that.
And so building that from a reallyyoung age and then getting to the
point where you know, they doget their periods and they are in this
you know, different world of nowhaving to access period products and go to
school and stuff. Is you know, we want to eliminate that barrier,
right it is there so many thingsgoing on in this world right now,
(19:18):
is that if we could just eliminatethat barrier, give them the product that
they need, they can go towork, they can go to school,
and they can earn an income andlearn alongside their peers. And that's really
the most important thing is is elevatingand really amplifying the work that you all
are doing on the ground with Titleone schools and you know, folks in
(19:38):
the community that are suffering. AndI think corporations that have period supplies should
always put some type of budget tothe side to specifically donate to organizations that
are pushing the movement, because it'llhelp us be sustainable with providing the products
as well as nonprofits. You alreadyknow it's like you know, begging for
(20:00):
money to say so, which iscrazy. Yeah, so and then and
then if you don't have a greatstory, it's just like you don't get
it. So, you know,we do rely solely on donations, but
donations don't always come, so wealways have to pull in other ways.
We're doing drives or anything like that. But I really really feel like all
these organizations are coming out with theseperiod supplies should have a separate budget to
(20:23):
donate to these organizations, and thatwill help us reach more people. You
know, we'll be able to providemore and we'll be capable of doing it.
Yeah, speaking of resources, whatare other resources that are out there
that are available in this space?Would you say, I mean outside of
what you're doing. I mean you'redoing, you have your own organization,
(20:44):
you're donating product, you're doing likeall these different things, like are there
any information or resources or like Iknow, we have the Alliance for Period
Supplies like so my other movements,Yeah, like on your platform for example,
like what are some of your keyinitiatives that are important to you right
now? Yeah, for sure.So we collect data from our national network
in order to create kind of likea talking points for folks so that they
(21:08):
can take this information and say,Okay, in the state of New York
or in whatever state you are in, here are the statistics of the folks
that are that are suffering, arethat you know, are affected by period
poverty, so that you can thengo ahead and have conversations to destigmatize periods
and then also inform elected officials.That's one of our top things is advocacy.
(21:29):
So on the local, state andfederal level, we are advocating to
advance bills for specifically gender equity andmaking sure that products are available in schools
and states aren't taxing period products asif they're luxury items, because we all
know that they are not luxury,they are basic necessities, and so we
have you know things on our website, Alliance for Period Supplies dot org.
(21:52):
You can download, you know,host a period product drive to learn the
steps on how you can do that. You know how what does that entail?
You know, educating your community oryour friends, your neighbors, your
partner, your family. Whatever itis is saying hey, I put together
a you know, an Amazon wishlist, or hey can you buy me
an extra pad of an extra pairof a box of pads or something so
that I can then donate to mylocal community. We have those resources on
(22:15):
there, and as a national organizationin general, we help to support the
expansion of organizations, and so wedo that by providing products from our you
know, our sponsors whoever liked todonate from to us thinks as wonderfully last
year had donated over thirty thousand pairof underwears that we were able to distribute
(22:37):
throughout our communities. Um and thenalso providing them with grants in order to
little things like securing warehouse space sothat they can collect product, or hiring
staff or you know, running periodproduct drives. Is you know, those
are some of the things that wedo to help kind of expand and mobilize
this this network. That's great,that's great. So coming back to expecting
(23:00):
relief, like I know, youdo a lot of events in the community.
You have the supply drive that you'redoing with you know, the period
poverty things. You also do adiaper distribution, Yes, you do community
baby showers. You do all thesethings. So talk a little bit about
that and then how Maternal has partneredwith you in that space, Yeah,
which is is so funny. Sowe are expecting Relief. We're based out
(23:25):
of Brooklyn, New York and EastNew York and our mission is to create
community based solutions towards poverty, hunger, and miss education. And so we
offer five services to tackle the socialor vulnerable insecurities our community face, which
is our food, diaper cycle,literacy, and maternal slash dual A relief.
(23:47):
We are like our community knows us. They rely on us and we
build a great relationship with them towhere we you know, acts, you
know, what do you in needof? You know, we just don't
want to come here and say,you know, we know you need this.
We want you to have a voiceand let us know what can we
do to help you. So wealso do community baby showers and as far
(24:11):
as educating moms about their rights,their birthing rights. And that's how we
came across maternal with you guys reachingout to us to be a part of
the event. So we were ableto build that relationship with you guys,
and so we are father thankful forthat thing. We're thankful for you,
right because you know, one ofthe things that I've learned about building this
(24:32):
platform is we wanted it to becredible, right and we don't know at
all, right, so we wantedto partner with experts who are like doing
the work in this space and doingit really well. So like it's been
a really wonderful partnership and that I'vebeen to your events before. I mean,
this is doing God's work right,And I mean you're feeding hundreds and
(24:53):
hundreds of families every single month,right, and you're giving out diapers,
and it's like and that's a huge, huge undertaking. So like, how
did you get into this space?Well, it started about eleven years ago
and we had a family friend whocame out of nowhere and just popped up
and she was pregnant, living inthe shelter and she was in need.
(25:15):
So we provided for her and sheended up stealing from us after providing.
So I was upset at probably forlike a couple of hours, but it
was nothing of value. It wasjust a principle behind it, and so
I understood the desperate act and Iturned it into expecting relief and I was
just thinking, like what if shewas to get arrested and stole out of
(25:37):
a store like that would be moretraumatizing for her being pregnant. Knowing that
she's in need. So we formedthe organization and it had some delays in
between, but I would say thatwe've been emerging a little bit before COVID
hit, we should have been emerging, and so we decided we were able
to become a food pantry because ofCOVID and the agencies recognizing what we were
(26:04):
doing and allowing us to be partof ag scenes with them, so we
would have freed everyone. And thenwe got into diaper poverty. So we
became members of the National Diaper BankNetwork, which is the system brand right
of Alliance Superiod Supplies, and that'show we were introduced to the Alliance Superiod
Supplies by becoming members with them,and so we all kind of we just
knew that it just all just tome, it's all necessities that it's needed
(26:30):
in the community. So we wantedto be able to provide that for them
and it's something new to the communityand they're so grateful because it's it's a
need. And right now we partnerwith Dance Atlanta to run our distributions,
but we actually receive a donated spaceto work and operate out of for two
years under Cypress Hills Local Development corporations. So we'll be having our grand opening
(26:53):
in June, so we're excited aboutthat. And it's going to be basically
a community ntry boutique, just asafe place to get all of your basic
necessities. But we also want tohave workshops. It's not just about getting
your supplies and that's it. Wewant to you know, be able to
educate you on, you know,the issues that we're having and also invite
more men to have these conversations withyou know, come with their child or
(27:18):
their wife, to have those conversationssurrounding period. I think we need more
of the advocacy with men in thoseconversations, so we definitely want to promote
that as well. And yeah,I mean, I think you said something
very powerful in the beginning, andI don't think you realize what you said.
You were you were talking describing thestory about the young lady that you
(27:40):
helped, right, so instead ofbecoming better about the situation, you're like,
wow, like I have a solutionfor this. So you took someone
shortcoming, didn't judge them, buttried to understand the root cause to which
they made that decision, and createda community solution, which to me is
like, wow, right, likethat's so powerful. Yeah, And I
(28:02):
definitely I don't ever judge anyone,Like I'm just judgment free zone. Everyone
has a story. But you know, she was just going through something,
and so I just took her experienceand thought about everyone else and the shelter
system that's going through something. Andyou don't necessarily have to live in a
shelter to go through something. Butthat just helped me realize that there was
a need and what can I do? You know? And it started off
with me and my sisters, butit just became me. You know,
(28:26):
they weren't as past passionate about itas I was, and I was okay
with that. So I started justdoing you know, more research and just
really realizing that there's just a lotof women out there that's really really in
need. And I don't always wantto just say, you know, the
woman, because it's that's the majority, but we do have single father's,
(28:47):
single men that also are our needthat don't get highlighted because it's just always
gearing towards the woman because that's whatwe used to that's the woman that are
taking care of everything. But youknow, I ALWASO want to incorporate men
because there are men out there thatare in situations and our single dads and
are stepping up to the plate andtaking care of their children that need help
as well. And you brought somethingtoday to the event that we did downstairs,
(29:11):
your proclamation from Blimborough President A Tonyover No so so tell us about
that. Well, he's you know, I shout out to Antonio Ronaso.
He is very supportive with the wholematernal movement and anything that has to do
with you know, women, andso we just submit it for the Awareness
Period Poverty Awareness Week, which startsto May twenty seconds to May twenty eighth,
(29:36):
and that's one of the things thatthe Alliance period supply helps us to
obtain as well. So they're reallyheavy on the advacy with getting these proclamations
because we are bringing awareness to eventhe officials that are approving it. They're
now understanding like what this is andthey have a say and whether they're going
to approve it or not. Butyou know, we were very thankful we
(29:56):
picked it up the proclamation yesterday andit's just kind of all aligned with what
we were doing. It just cameright in time. So we picked up.
Yes, say you've brung it today, and I'm like, oh,
this is wonderful. Yeah it was. And you didn't even say anything about
you just kind of like I'm like, I'm like, proclamation is this?
This is like amazing? So yeah, good because I'm not good at highlighting
myself and the work that I dobecause it just comes natural, because it's
just a part of me. It'sjust something that I feel like I'm supposed
(30:18):
to be doing. And I feellike everyone should have some type of heart
to give, you know, likeeven like you know, my mom always
taught me that too growing up.You know, we sometimes carry just singles
and throughout the day when someone's inneed and they ask for it, will
give a dollar to them and thena dollar to someone else and it'll help
them, you know, go along way with that. But that it's
(30:38):
just and so I'm really bad athighlighting my work or highlighting me in general,
really bad at that. Well I'lltell you this, Your reward in
heaven is great. Yeah, yourspirit of compassion is just so admirable.
Thank you. Rare and rare forsure. So I kind of want to
bring it back full circle to yourorganization. So where can people go to
(31:00):
find out information on period poverty,what they can do, how they can
get involved, like all the things. Yeah, for sure. Well,
first of all, I just wantto say, Vanessa, you are amazing.
I mean, she really is soselfless and and that's the that's the
best part that I love about myjob is that we just learn so much
from founders and folks that identify theissue from across the country and just have
(31:23):
so many different stories. But ifyou want to learn more about periods poverty,
you can go to Alliance for PeriodSupplies dot org. We have many
resources available there. And then alsothis week, as Vanessa had mentioned,
it's Period Poverty Awareness Week, Sothis is a national campaign that we started
four years ago to raise awareness aboutperiod poverty and amplify the work that folks
(31:47):
are doing on the ground across thecountry. So follow us on Instagram at
period Supplies, on Facebook Alliance forPeriod Supplies and Twitter at period Supplies,
and you'll start to see you know, some you know, more information being
sent out social media content. We'resharing all of the wonderful work that our
allied programs are doing. So yeah, that those are those are the main
(32:08):
resources that you want to, andyou can catch us on Instagram and Facebook
at Expecting Relief straight through nothing inbetween, Expecting Relief and log on to
www Dot Expecting Reliefs dot org andyou can find out about more of our
services and then just inquire how youcan get our help if you're in need.
That's great. Well, listen,we appreciate you both. We appreciate
(32:30):
the work that you're doing in thisspace, and we appreciate the opportunity to
have this conversation and we appreciate foryou allowing us to come and have this
conversation also, and we need thismore. Yeah, we need to normalize
these type of conversations. Yeah,And I also wanted to highlight um rock
Sham pasade out on a Rock Shampasade she's having. We're actually to be
(32:50):
a part of the panel on Thursdaysurrounding period poverty and we submitted was it
the competition with Kimberly Clarkson alongside CenterPassard, and we won, so we
were able to get one thousand dollarsworth of period supplies donated. So she's
actually going to be doing the distributionin Brooklyn with the period supplies the same
(33:13):
day that we're going to be onthe panel. I'm having the discussion.
That's great, and where can peopledonate supplies and all that to you.
We have a new address now,okay, but we're not opening till June.
So I would say if they wantto reach out to you and inquire
about how they can don't Yeah,they can info at Expecting Relief dot org
(33:35):
or you can message us on socialmedia. We'll respond. Thank you ladies
for joining us in studio today onMe Turnal. I am Kenya Gibson and
I which is joined in studio todayby Vanessa Prissetti ormsby Expecting Relief Founder and
executive director and Jennifer Gaines for theAlliance of Period Supplies. Thank you so
much for being here today. You'relistening to Me Turnal on iHeartRadio. No
(34:00):
students should have to miss school,no adults should have to miss work,
and no person should have to missout on daily life because they are unable
to afford the necessities they require tothrive. This conversation will help ensure that
women in need have access to essentialperiod products required to participate fully in daily
life. Visit Meternal dot info formore ways. iHeartRadio is creating awareness around
(34:23):
issues in the maternal health space forcommunities of color.
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