Period and hygiene poverty refers to the limited access to general hygiene and menstrual care products people face. It is one of the least well-known issues plaguing the world today. This is exactly why Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School seniors Amelia Collins, Natalie Green and Rica Lopez decided to take action and help fight period and hygiene poverty by setting up a drive of their own. 

Seeing an interesting post over social media through a friend, Collins was introduced to the company “Her Drive, Co.”, a Chicago-based nonprofit organization that provides bras, menstrual care, and general hygiene products to people in need over the summer of 2021. Although this was Collins’ first time being introduced to the non-profit organization, it is certainly not the first time Collins has been interested in women’s rights. 

“I have had an interest just in women’s rights in general for a long time now,” Collins said. “I’ve known about period poverty but it’s not something that a lot of people know about.” 

Shortly after Green and Lopez joined the team, Collins had reached out to Her Drive in June of 2021 and got into contact with Jenica Baron and Alexa Mohsenzadeh, the leaders of Her Drive. In July, they spent several weeks planning with the Baron and Mohsenzadeh to brainstorm ideas and organize the drive.  

The drive they held took place during August and ended in September. 

They were collecting feminine hygiene products, baby products, bras and other general hygiene products such as shampoo, soap and hair products. 

Collins, Green and Lopez had donation boxes in various locations where generous souls could drop off items. Another way people could donate was by purchasing items from the Amazon wishlist they had created, which allows people outside of the community to donate. 

“We mainly advertised the drive through social media and direct contact,” Collins said. “I know personally I’m very close to my neighbors so I went around and talked to all of them door to door style. We also got a sizable donation from the SPF Board of Education, which we’re really grateful for.” 

Overall the drive was very successful in the trio’s eyes. They collected 1,286 period products, 527 baby products and 290 general hygiene products.

“We’ve also discussed doing another drive in the future,” Lopez said. “Maybe over the holidays or springtime and we could work with other organizations like the music department of the high school to organize something similar.”

Running a drive wasn’t easy, and it was actually their first time doing so. Collins, Green and Lopez were able to successfully manage and organize this drive through the help of the people at Her Drive. 

“The people over at Her Drive really let us do whatever we wanted with it,” Green said. “Also they were closer to our age, which really helped us communicate with them. They also had interesting ideas that helped us figure out how to go about collecting some donations.” 

The organization provides participants and organizers great autonomy in their rules and regulations for participants. Collins, Lopez, and Green chose their own methods to reach out to people and they created their own graphics and advertisements. Most importantly, they picked which charities they would like to donate to. 

“We chose Homefirst in Plainfield and the Elizabeth Coalition to house the homeless in Elizabeth,” Lopez said. “So everything we raised is going to local shelters and organizations but the central group in Chicago helps us just run the drive, planning and any resources we might need, which is also something we all really liked.” 

Keep an eye out for seniors Amelia Collins, Natalie Green and Rica Lopez as they organize more donation drives in the future! 

To learn more about Her Drive and the organization’s story, check out their website https://www.herdrive.org/!