Helping Girls and Women, One Month at a Time - by Stacy Vermylen in Stroll Old Naples Magazine

IT'S A SUBJECT WE DON'T talk about but is known to all females on the planet between roughly 12-50 years of age. Not discussed in mixed company. An issue that can result in humiliation, missed education or employment, and potential medical issues. It is the issue addressed by the Alliance for Period Supplies of Southwest Florida: the inability to afford products for monthly menstruation.

Imagine being a teenage girl getting ready for school and realizing you have your period-but there are no pads in the house and no money to buy them. What do you do? For some girls, the answer is simple but heartbreaking: they stay home, too embarrassed to go.

For women, the choices may be equally difficult. A limited household budget may have to cover rent, groceries, transportation and medicine before there is money left for period products. And unlike food, period supplies cannot be purchased with SNAP benefits and are taxed as well.

It is a problem most of us rarely think about. It even has a name: period poverty-the inability to afford the products needed to manage a monthly period safely and with dignity.

And it is happening right here in Southwest Florida.

The Alliance for Period Supplies of Southwest Florida was founded in 2019 after local volunteers working at a food pantry following Hurricane Irma became aware of an unmet need. Women were asking for period products, yet these necessities were not routinely available through traditional assistance programs.

What began with the recognition of a largely invisible problem has grown into an organization serving women and girls throughout Collier County. Working through schools, food pantries and nonprofit agencies, the Alliance provides free monthly period supplies to those who otherwise may have to go without.

Since its founding, the Alliance has distributed more than 12 million period products, providing hundreds of thousands of worry-free periods for women and girls in our community. APS provides supplies for the school nurses and food banks, at no charge to the girls or schools.

The need may be greater than many of us realize. According to information cited by the Alliance, one in four women and girls has struggled to purchase period products because of cost, and girls can miss up to 20% of their school days or sports activities because they cannot afford supplies.

Without adequate supplies, some resort to using rags, socks or other makeshift substitutes. But the issue goes beyond physical comfort. It can mean missing school, missing work, declining an invitation, or simply spending several days each month worrying about something most of us take for granted. Says Dusti Beaubien, the APS Founder, "No one should have to choose between food and basic hygiene. If we stay silent, we are part of the problem."

That is why the Alliance's mission is ultimately about much more than providing pads. It is about dignity, confidence and participation in everyday life.

The organization's roots are distinctly local After learning about the need following Hurricane Irma, its founders attended the first national Summit for Period Poverty in 2018. They returned to Naples determined to do something about what they had discovered, establishing the local nonprofit in January 2019.

Since that time, they have established a network of partners for distribution, including Grace Place, St. Matthew's House, Meals of Hope, David Lawrence Center, Star Abilities and the Coller and Lee County schools.

Perhaps one of the most surprising things about the Alliance is how much difference a relatively modest contribution can make. According to the organization, just $31 can provide period supplies for one woman or girl for an entire year.

For most of us, that might represent dinner out, a bottle of wine or a few cups of coffee. For someone else, it can mean twelve months without worrying whether she has what she needs to go to school, go to work or simply go about her day.

There are needs in every community that we recognize immediately-hunger, homelessness, illness. Others remain almost invisible because they are private and rarely discussed.

Period poverty is one of those needs. TheAlliance for Period Supplies of Southwest Florida has brought that need into the light, approaching it not with embarrassment, but with practicality and compassion. Its work

sends a simple message to women and girls throughout our community: something as ordinary and unavoidable as having a period should never stand between you and your education, your job or your daily life.

Sometimes making a meaningful difference begins simply by noticing a need that has been there all along.

If you wish to donate or volunteer, click HERE TO GET INVOLVED!