From March 8 to March 28, Park had a drive to collect period products for women’s shelters in need. The drive was organized by ACT (Achieving Change Together) president, Alicia Mainjeni.
Junior Sela Myers said people donated because they recognized the inaccessibility of period products.
“It’s super important to support people who need menstrual products because they’re very inaccessible and expensive,” Myers said.
ACT Supervisor and history teacher Carley Kregness said drives like this are important because there are many people who don’t have access to products like these.
“There is a lot of research that shows that a shocking amount of women cannot afford period products,” Kregness said. “They’re very expensive. And they’re not optional.”
Sophomore Tess Machalek said people were interested in this drive because they realized the significance of problems like these.
“I think that people donated because they recognize that this is an important issue that needs attention,” Machalek said.
Kregness said drives like this are beneficial for women in shelters because they it allows them access to things they need.
“Women that are in shelters are automatically, because they’re in a shelter, are in a place where they don’t have access to as much money, or to the products that they would normally have access to. Kregness said.
Machalek said donating to women’s shelters helps both the women in the shelters, and connects the community.
“I liked it because it was a good idea to support people who don’t have access to period products,” Machalek said. “It’s very important to help strengthen the community.”
Myers said this drive did really well in comparison to past drives.
“It was actually more successful than a lot of drives that have happened in the high school; clothing drives, so many different things,” Myers said.
Kregness said even though the drive is over, there are still ways to help.
“The shelters are always looking for just plain old cash donations,” Kregness said. “If you missed our drive, but are still interested, shelters are always willing to accept donations from people in the public.”
Machalek said being aware of issues can help make sure we solve them.
“I think it’s important that we are observing problems in the community so that we can all help to assist with those problems,” Machalek said.
According to Myers, helping our community helps to strengthen us as people.
“I think it’s really beneficial and helps our community and the communities around us,” Myers said. “The more we learn to help others outside the community as we’re younger, it’ll make us stronger people.”
