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Ending Period Poverty: Schenectady’s Free Period Pantries Offer Hope and Dignity
In 2022, “period pantries” began appearing in downtown Schenectady.
The boxes, which resemble little free libraries, are stocked with tampons and pads, all free and available 24-7, no questions asked. The hope is to alleviate “period poverty,” defined as the inability to afford or access menstrual supplies.
Last fall, The Schenectady Foundation awarded a $7,500 microgrant to support the continued maintenance of Schenectady’s four period pantries, located at YWCA NorthEastern New York, the Sycamore Collaborative, Hometown Health Centers and the Sustainable Living Center in Central Park.
The period pantries were the brainchild of three young women serving as public health fellows at Schenectady County Public Health Services. They installed the period pantries and founded an organization, Capital Region Menstrual Health, to maintain them. In June, control of the pantries shifted to The Mooncatcher Project, a longtime Schenectady non-profit with a mission of providing schoolgirls living in poverty throughout the world with reusable period products.
“A big part of our mission is to instill dignity in menstruating people,” said Charlotte Mack, assistant director of The Mooncatcher Project. “You should never be prevented from participating in life because you don’t have a menstrual product. It’s a basic need.”
“Menstruation is still a taboo for some people,” Mack continued. “It’s not commonly talked about. Our work overseas and locally is trying to remove the stigma around menstruation.”
The Mooncatcher Project will use its microgrant to keep the period pantries filled and to expand into Schenectady High School.
Demand for period products is high, Mack said. The pantries at Sycamore Collaborative and Hometown Health Centers - the two busiest - go through approximately 1,700 period products a month.
Volunteers help stock the period pantries. There are also collection sites where people can donate products at CREATE Community Studios, Schenectady Habitat ReStore and Studio 4, a yoga studio.
Research suggests period poverty is shockingly common.
According to one study, a 2019 report in the peer-reviewed medical journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, nearly two-thirds of low-income women in the St. Louis, Mo., area could not afford needed menstrual supplies during the previous year. “Many women make do with cloth, rags, tissues or toilet paper …” the report noted.
Thanks to the period pantries, “If you get your period at 2 a.m. and you’re in a crisis, there’s somewhere you can go,” Mack said.
