WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Friday, March 8 is International Women's Day. In celebration, a local nonprofit is hosting a "period packing party" to help eliminate the gap between need and access for people who menstruate.
Many people who are low-income and/or unhoused lack sufficient access to menstrual products, education and clean sanitation facilities. It's a global public health dilemma known as period poverty.
That's why Give Grace, Give Hope is hosting their fifth "period packing party" Friday, where volunteers will put together menstruation supplies to be donated across Iowa.
In 2017, founder Melissa Knutson’s 7-year-old daughter Brenlyn wanted to help women experiencing homelessness and asked for what she called “pagina covers” for Christmas.
According to Knutson, this was her daughter’s “way of asking for pads and tampons, something she had recently learned is a high-need-item at the local homeless shelter.”
From that idea, Give Grace, Give Hope was born.
"We realized there was a lot of need in the community for pads and tampons at schools and shelters,” Knutson said. “And we found out if girls don't have access to these items, they miss school, women miss work."
On Friday, 600 volunteers will put together 9,000 period packs comprised of 7 tampons, 7 liners, 7 pads and a note of encouragement.
"As a mom, I’ve been super proud of this experience, because this is my daughter's idea, and letting her sort of run with it and give this really a great purpose in our community," Knutson said.
And it truly is an act of community: the event is held at The Hall in West Des Moines. Owner Nick Kuhn said when he was approached about hosting the event, it made sense.
"We have a mission here at The Hall, working with the homeless and the hungry, and just those in need in general,” Kuhn said. “And it didn't take us long to connect the dots that there was perfect alignment between our missions."
The Hall operates The Justice League of Food, which is centered on reducing homelessness through skills training and job placement in the food and beverage industry.
Kuhn said it’s been an honor to host the period packing event.
"Growth of this thing has been amazing,” he said. “As a male, it's been fun to watch the growth of the number of men getting involved."
It's an event that is bringing people from all walks of life together, to help women all throughout Iowa live healthy, happy lives.
"There's no reason why women shouldn't be able to reach their full potential,” Knutson said. “And if someone wants to do some amazing thing, but lack of income and the ability to purchase period products get in the way, we think that shouldn't happen."
Volunteers will be packaging a total of more than 180,000 period products, as well as bags and note cards.
Shifts are happening from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and then again from 1-3 p.m.
The packs are donated throughout the year to various shelters and schools.