In recognition of a community need, the Quincy Public Library will be holding its 4th Annual Menstrual Hygiene Drive from Monday, March 2nd until Friday, April 3rd.

Period Poverty is a human rights issue that affects all menstruating individuals regardless of race, nationality, and religion. It includes not only the lack of menstrual hygiene supplies, but also a lack of education surrounding menstruation. According to an article published in the Journal of Global Health Reports, "Two-thirds of the 16.9 million low-income women in the US could not afford menstrual products in the past year, with a half of this needing to choose between menstrual products and food." The number is even higher when considering trans people.

It is not uncommon for individuals to miss out on school, work, and even other daily activities because of their period. This issue is exacerbated when individuals do not have access to the proper menstrual products or education about a process that affects more than half of the world's population.

Last year, over 300 packages of pads, tampons, period cups, hygiene wipes, and period underwear were donated to the Bella Ease Care Closet, the Quincy Public Schools, Horizons, Quanada, the YWCA, & Parents as Teachers! We also had over $800 in monetary donations in addition to the donated items, which allowed us to buy even more supplies.

Simply drop off your donations in the lobby any time the library is open. Items we will be accepting include:

Tampons
Pads
Unused menstrual cups
Unused period underwear
Hygiene wipes

This year we will be donating the supplies to the YWCA, Quanada, Horizons, the Bella Ease Care Closet, the Quincy Public Schools, Chaddock, and Parents as Teachers.

If you're unable to drop off donations, please consider donating online! Even if it's only a few dollars, every bit counts!

Michel, J., Mettler, A., Schonenberger, S., & Gunz, D. (2022). Period poverty: Why it should be everybody's business. Journal of Global Health Reports, 6. https://doi.org/10.29392/001c.32436

Fourth Annual Menstrual Hygiene Drive