“It’s hard to ask for help, I know, but you have to.”
— Diamond, a 32-year-old single mother of three
When Diamond’s daughter started menstruating, it wasn’t just a physical development. It was a financial one too.
Some background. Diamond was just 19 when she became a single mother and when family conflicts forced her and her infant daughter into the vortex of homelessness.
Time spent in shelters. Weeks sleeping on a friend’s floor. Eviction from a small apartment she somehow managed to get. Back to the homeless shelter.
Her story gets better, though. In 2018, Diamond secured Section 8 housing vouchers and when GPF caught up with her this past summer, she was in her own home in Indianapolis with her three children — two girls, ages 13 and 11, and a boy, age 4.
But the fact remains that she is dangerously low income, and with three children, every need — expected or not — can create financial chaos and put her family at severe risk once again.
“Now it’s me and my two daughters who need period products,” Diamond said. “The price is very high and to be a single mother of three, I have to make choices — food, utilities, or their needs? I can’t keep doing this all the time.”
According to I Support the Girls, a GPF grantee, the average cost of period products is a significant burden for anyone with financial struggles. And, costs can increase exponentially depending on any number of factors, including an individual’s menstrual flow, the number of menstruating people in a household, the absorbency level of the product … even the cost of new underwear or clothing stained from menstrual blood.
The list goes on and on. Government support programs, such as SNAP and WIC for individuals and families in need, do not allow funds to be used for the purchase of period products, and some states tax them.
Due to these realities and her circumstances, Diamond receives a supply of period and personal hygiene products for herself and her daughters from I Support the Girls. The organization’s overall mission is to collect and distribute essential items such as bras, underwear and menstrual hygiene products to women and folx experiencing homelessness, impoverishment, or distress — and by so doing, giving them dignity and peace of mind.
“For the recipient, sometimes the small things are the big things — whether it is a bra, a tampon, a soccer ball, or a hot meal — and these make an enormous difference,” says Dana Marlowe, Founder and Executive Director of I Support the Girls.
Diamond calls the supply an “I Support the Girls goodie box,” one that arrives every few months to fill the gap and ease the burden and worry. “They have my back,” she says. “It’s hard to ask for help, I know, but you have to.”
