The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

Drive highlights feminine products

Drive+highlights+feminine+products

It’s that time of the month — to donate.

With National Homelessness and Hunger Awareness Week beginning Nov. 15, two University of Iowa students are working to provide homeless women and other women in need of feminine-hygiene products with the necessary items.

UI senior Jenna Glaza and UI junior Rachel Zuckerman hope to raise awareness for the lack of feminine-hygiene product donations and are bringing two projects together to boost the outcome.

This project started when Zuckerman and Glaza came across a Facebook article detailing homeless women who do not have access to sanitary products. They became passionate about the topic and started a Feminine Hygiene Drive.

“The whole point of this is that feminine-hygiene products are one of the most under-donated contributions to homeless shelters in general,” Zuckerman said. “It’s completely taboo to talk about menstruation and things like that in American society. It’s easy to forget that it is need unless it is something that is directly affecting you.”

Glaza said she believes the topic needs to be discussed more openly for the sake of women in need.

“We both feel that with menstruation it is super stigmatized,” Glaza said. “You can’t do your daily activities. You can’t go to your job and feel comfortable. If you are homeless and you have your period, you can’t do the things to help yourself [get to] a better situation. It’s all about bringing dignity and empowerment back to women.”

The feminine-hygiene drive last year collected almost 300 boxes filled with sanitary products for women that were donated to homeless shelters and the Domestic Violence Intervention Program in Iowa City.

Along with the drive, Helping Handbags is another avenue for donation. This project was created by Zuckerman her senior year of high school and took off in her in her hometown, a suburb of Detroit.

“We take gently used handbags, and we fill them with toiletries such as small shampoos and deodorant,” Zuckerman said. “We are trying to bring them both [Helping Handbags and the drive] together this year.”

Since Zuckerman started the project in 2013, she has collected between 300 to 400 handbags to fill with hygiene and sanitary products for women.

“We brought them together to focus on the empowerment and dignity thing. I created Helping Handbags based on the idea that there is so much power in a purse. Think about what it means to you as a woman,” Zuckerman said. “People don’t have that luxury. We are bringing these both together to emphasize that there are things that we take for granted. And quite frankly, it’s a really good chance for you to clean out your closet.”

UI sophomore Andrea Dutton, a DVIP volunteer, said that while she doesn’t have any direct connection to the drive, she understands the need for them.

“When you have a nonprofit like this, money is tight,” Dutton said. “It’s just a great way to get donations for things that we need a lot of like feminine products and things like that.”

Official donations will be collected until Nov. 14, but Zuckerman and Glaza will collect any donations after that date if contacted through their university email addresses.

Donations of feminine hygiene products will be collected in several locations, including:

• The IMU second floor of the Iowa Memorial Union

• The main hall of the College of Nursing

• The first floor of the College of Law

• Petersen Residence Hall, Currier Residence Hall

• Lindquist Center North by the second floor elevator

• WRAC

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