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Period Partner® Donates Menstrual Care Products to Those in Need During the Coronavirus Pandemic

As panic buying depletes resources, many homeless and poor are going without

CLEVELAND—April 24, 2020—Periods don’t stop for pandemics. Across the U.S., charitable organizations that help underserved populations gain access to vital menstrual care products are scrambling to help a growing number of people. While the scarcity of toilet paper has become a constant headline in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak, what of these other just-as-essential hygiene products? Just as with toilet paper, people need menstrual care products—almost half of the population. When people who can afford it stockpile these products, the homeless and the poor are often going without.

Period Partner®, an effort of HOSPECO®, regularly donates thousands of menstrual care products to organizations that help the homeless, those living below the poverty line, and other people in need. Since its inception, donations have topped more than 648,000 period products. In the face of the current crisis, Period Partner is extending its mission by increasing these donations across a variety of national organizations with the greatest reach. The goal is simple: to get these vital products to the people who use them, now in their greatest time of need.

In March and April alone, in response to the pandemic, donations totaled more than 105,000 products to Femme Aid Collaborative (Ohio), I Support the Girls (Indiana and Maryland), and the Homeless Period Project (South Carolina).

Regarding the most recent donation, Erin Carey, Assistant Director of Mission Advancement for the St. Vincent de Paul Society, said that Femme Aid Collaborative is a gift to the Dayton (Ohio) St. Vincent de Paul community. “We sheltered over 1,000 women in 2019, and Femme Aid helped ensure that each guest had access to appropriate feminine hygiene products,” Carey says. “We are blessed to have a partner that provides such an important necessity for those we serve.”

On the unprecedented run on paper products, Bill Hemann, HOSPECO’s executive vice president of sales and marketing, said the pressure being placed on retail stores is leaving our most financially vulnerable populations at a loss to cover their basic hygiene needs. “We stand for the idea that menstrual care products are a necessity, not a luxury,” explained Hemann. “We consider it part of our mission to step up at this time and help fill this critical need.”

Period Partner leads the conversation about universal access to menstrual care solutions in public restrooms, treating them as the necessities they are, just like soap, toilet paper, and paper towels.

HOSPECO, a leading maker of hygiene, safety, and cleaning products for the away-from-home market, founded and supports the initiative, believing that it is long past time for these necessary hygiene products to be treated as essential.