Temple’s Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance (FMLA) is hosting its annual tampon drive Bell Tower to support Project SAFE. Students can donate sanitary products between the hours of 12pm and 3pm Thursday and Friday.
All products collected are sent to Project SAFE, who then distribute them to the homeless throughout Philadelphia. If you can’t donate products, money donations will also be accepted to be put towards buying supplies. Project SAFE, a female-volunteer ran organization, aims to help women in sex work who have need for medical and social services, while also providing a support network to connect women with each other. They are run out of Kensington, a notorious neighborhood in Philadelphia. When it comes to the tampons and pads donated to Project SAFE, “they literally walk up and down Kensington and hand out care packages, ” according to Danielle Wolf, FMLA executive board member.
The tampon drive promotes awareness of the lack of sanitary products that many Philadelphia residents cannot afford. The choice can come to either buying tampons or food. Last year, FMLA collected over 2,600 tampons and pads and the drive this year appeared to be successful going into their first day.
Freshman Piper Buris is a first time participant in the drive. “It’s a really good opportunity to get the word out about an issue that people are afraid to talk about and are not aware of. It’s important to show that anyone can make a difference, even here on campus,” she said.
“The big thing about the drive is that by asking directly for tampons, it helps us start a conversation about menstruation and we’re trying to break the stigma, we get a lot of weird looks so we know that helps start the conversation,” said Vanessa Kovacs, a junior FMLA member.
Be the first to comment