May 13, 2025 • 5 mins
Listen to Joanna and Sean talk to Wendi Schweigart from Project Marilyn about Period Poverty.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sub me when I was six point five. Good morning,
it's Joanna and Sean. Hopefully you had a beautiful Mother's Day.
Now it's the day after Mother's Day, but we have
one of our favorite mamas on the phone with us
this morning. We have the founder of Project Marilyn our friend,
Wendy Schweigar. Welcome back to the show this morning.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Good morning, Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
We love talking with you, Wendy, and I know that
we talked to you around this time every year. A
big week for your organization this week, but real quick,
anybody who's not familiar with Project Marylyn, and with yesterday
being Mother's Day, your organization became what it is today
because of your mom. So give us a backstory, right right?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, So happy happy post Mother's Day to everyone out there. Yes,
Marilyn was my mom. We lost her to cancer in
twenty eleven, and when she passed away, she shared with
me that she never felt she made an impact on anyone,
She never helped anyone, which just really wasn't true. She
was just super lovely and fantastic. And you know what
she did do is teach us tenacity and hard work.
(01:05):
And you know she did teach us to help people.
And so while you know periods were not her things specifically,
it does make me very proud to be able to
give women dignity in her honor.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Wow, it's an amazing cause. And the reason we love
having you on right now is to talk about period
period Poverty Awareness Week. Now. Look, I'm a girl, dad.
I think a lot of our listeners know that, and
I love the example you set for young women to
not be ashamed to talk about this. Nobody should be
ashamed to talk about this topic. And what you're doing
is you're addressing the scarcity of donated period products for
(01:42):
young women.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Correct, well, right, right, So we do. We work on
a cause known as period poverty. The statistics say that
two and five women can't afford period supplies every year
due to lack of income, and one in four girls
is missing school every month for the length of her
period because they don't have period supplies. And also you
can't use any sort of federal funds meaning EBT, SNAT,
(02:05):
medicaid to purchase these products because they're still classified as
non essential luxury items. So we are really trying to
change the dialogue around all of that. And yes, period
supplies are the least donated items when people come together
to help everyone. You know, rightfully, so is very concerned
about food and clothes and school supplies. But you know
(02:26):
what happens when a woman, a girl gets her period.
You know, she's not leaving the house, she's not going
to work, she's not going to school. So we really
are trying to change the whole narrative around that.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yeah, it's pretty powerful stuff. I think one of my
favorite parts of your mission is that everyone deserves a
healthy and dignified period period and that's why we are
bringing light and attention to Period Poverty Awareness Week. Now,
I know the entire month of May, so there's plenty
of time for people to support. But you guys have
a really cool I don't know if I want to
use a promotion the right word or something really special
(02:59):
right now, if people able to donate to Project.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Marylyn right right, so, we had an amazing We have
an amazing family, a donor and their family that have
generously offered to match all donations in the month of May.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
So that means if you donate to us in the
month of May, your donation will be match dollar for
dollar up to twenty thousand dollars is their gift to us,
And it's just so fantastic because it just means that
your donation amount goes twice as far, twice the period supplies, twice,
the dignity twice to help. So yeah, it's always we
(03:35):
always love a donation, but you know, the month of May,
your donation will be able to go twice as far.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
You know I've said it before, I'll say it again.
Period supplies should be free for anyone who needs them.
You shouldn't just because you are born with the ability
to have a period, be burdened with that kind of
financial expenditure for the rest of your life for something
that's completely beyond your control and until those supplies can
be reclassified as essential and non luxury. We are so
(04:04):
just proud and happy for what it is you're doing
out there.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Well, no, I appreciate it so much, and I appreciate
your support. You know, you're allowing me to come on
and share with your listeners, you know, especially every time,
you know, around this time of year, it just really
is important because look, the subject is still a bit taboo.
It's uncomfortable for some people, and you know, We just
really want to change the messaging that yes, periods are
(04:28):
a natural biological function. They happen to over half the
population every single month due to no fault of anyone's
and so it's just a great equalizer. You know, fortune
five hundred CEOs have periods and unhoused people have periods. So,
like Joanna said, it's a healthy and dignified period. Obviously,
we want you to be healthy, but we want you
to hold your head high, you know, thrive in your life,
(04:52):
be able to succeed and not have to worry that
you frankly have you know, a stack of napkins in
your underwear. It's just it's it's just really a acceptable
and we can do better.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Well, thank you Wendy for what you and Project Maryland
do for the entire state of Nevada. And again we
want to remind everybody going on right now donation match.
May just remember that I love the sound of that.
Donation match. May you make a donation to Project Maryland
and your donation is going to be doubled up to
twenty thousand dollars. We want to help them hit that
(05:24):
Projectmaryland dot com. Any other information you want to give
our audience today. Wendy, No, not really like.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
You said it all. Both of you said it all
so poetically, so kindly. Thank you. Yes, Project Maryland dot
com period Poverty Awareness Week May twelfth to the eighteenth
and the donor match May for the entire month of May,
and we appreciate everyone's support.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Awesome. We love talking with you, Wendy. Thank you for
calling into the show this morning.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Thank you both
Sub me when I was six point five. Good morning,
it's Joanna and Sean. Hopefully you had a beautiful Mother's Day.
Now it's the day after Mother's Day, but we have
one of our favorite mamas on the phone with us
this morning. We have the founder of Project Marilyn our friend,
Wendy Schweigar. Welcome back to the show this morning.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Good morning, Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
We love talking with you, Wendy, and I know that
we talked to you around this time every year. A
big week for your organization this week, but real quick,
anybody who's not familiar with Project Marylyn, and with yesterday
being Mother's Day, your organization became what it is today
because of your mom. So give us a backstory, right right?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, So happy happy post Mother's Day to everyone out there. Yes,
Marilyn was my mom. We lost her to cancer in
twenty eleven, and when she passed away, she shared with
me that she never felt she made an impact on anyone,
She never helped anyone, which just really wasn't true. She
was just super lovely and fantastic. And you know what
she did do is teach us tenacity and hard work.
(01:05):
And you know she did teach us to help people.
And so while you know periods were not her things specifically,
it does make me very proud to be able to
give women dignity in her honor.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Wow, it's an amazing cause. And the reason we love
having you on right now is to talk about period
period Poverty Awareness Week. Now. Look, I'm a girl, dad.
I think a lot of our listeners know that, and
I love the example you set for young women to
not be ashamed to talk about this. Nobody should be
ashamed to talk about this topic. And what you're doing
is you're addressing the scarcity of donated period products for
(01:42):
young women.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Correct, well, right, right, So we do. We work on
a cause known as period poverty. The statistics say that
two and five women can't afford period supplies every year
due to lack of income, and one in four girls
is missing school every month for the length of her
period because they don't have period supplies. And also you
can't use any sort of federal funds meaning EBT, SNAT,
(02:05):
medicaid to purchase these products because they're still classified as
non essential luxury items. So we are really trying to
change the dialogue around all of that. And yes, period
supplies are the least donated items when people come together
to help everyone. You know, rightfully, so is very concerned
about food and clothes and school supplies. But you know
(02:26):
what happens when a woman, a girl gets her period.
You know, she's not leaving the house, she's not going
to work, she's not going to school. So we really
are trying to change the whole narrative around that.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yeah, it's pretty powerful stuff. I think one of my
favorite parts of your mission is that everyone deserves a
healthy and dignified period period and that's why we are
bringing light and attention to Period Poverty Awareness Week. Now,
I know the entire month of May, so there's plenty
of time for people to support. But you guys have
a really cool I don't know if I want to
use a promotion the right word or something really special
(02:59):
right now, if people able to donate to Project.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Marylyn right right, so, we had an amazing We have
an amazing family, a donor and their family that have
generously offered to match all donations in the month of May.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
So that means if you donate to us in the
month of May, your donation will be match dollar for
dollar up to twenty thousand dollars is their gift to us,
And it's just so fantastic because it just means that
your donation amount goes twice as far, twice the period supplies, twice,
the dignity twice to help. So yeah, it's always we
(03:35):
always love a donation, but you know, the month of May,
your donation will be able to go twice as far.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
You know I've said it before, I'll say it again.
Period supplies should be free for anyone who needs them.
You shouldn't just because you are born with the ability
to have a period, be burdened with that kind of
financial expenditure for the rest of your life for something
that's completely beyond your control and until those supplies can
be reclassified as essential and non luxury. We are so
(04:04):
just proud and happy for what it is you're doing
out there.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Well, no, I appreciate it so much, and I appreciate
your support. You know, you're allowing me to come on
and share with your listeners, you know, especially every time,
you know, around this time of year, it just really
is important because look, the subject is still a bit taboo.
It's uncomfortable for some people, and you know, We just
really want to change the messaging that yes, periods are
(04:28):
a natural biological function. They happen to over half the
population every single month due to no fault of anyone's
and so it's just a great equalizer. You know, fortune
five hundred CEOs have periods and unhoused people have periods. So,
like Joanna said, it's a healthy and dignified period. Obviously,
we want you to be healthy, but we want you
to hold your head high, you know, thrive in your life,
(04:52):
be able to succeed and not have to worry that
you frankly have you know, a stack of napkins in
your underwear. It's just it's it's just really a acceptable
and we can do better.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Well, thank you Wendy for what you and Project Maryland
do for the entire state of Nevada. And again we
want to remind everybody going on right now donation match.
May just remember that I love the sound of that.
Donation match. May you make a donation to Project Maryland
and your donation is going to be doubled up to
twenty thousand dollars. We want to help them hit that
(05:24):
Projectmaryland dot com. Any other information you want to give
our audience today. Wendy, No, not really like.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
You said it all. Both of you said it all
so poetically, so kindly. Thank you. Yes, Project Maryland dot
com period Poverty Awareness Week May twelfth to the eighteenth
and the donor match May for the entire month of May,
and we appreciate everyone's support.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Awesome. We love talking with you, Wendy. Thank you for
calling into the show this morning.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Thank you both
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