Believe it or not, there are women, some even in our own community, that do not have access to feminine hygiene products. According to UNICEF’s sanitation initiatives in select African countries, some women are so poor that they must clean their feminine hygiene products and reuse them. While we have access to clean tampons and pads, some unfortunate women must use cloths and newspapers. Now is the time for each one of us to think about the women who don’t have access like we do and give to the CSJ camp-sponsored feminine hygiene drive to aid them.

According to UNICEF, 1 in 10 girls in some African countries don’t attend school on a monthly basis because of the lack of sanitation. If they had the kinds of products that we do, they would be much safer, happier and healthier.

Getting any type of feminine hygiene product is easy at a school full of girls- even the male teachers are prepared to help! But what if every time you got your period, you were unprepared and never got the supplies you needed? What if you had to use your child’s dirty diaper instead of a pad or tampon? There are some women in the world that feel like that every single month, and not just women in Africa. There are women in India, Haiti and even here in Kansas City who simply can’t afford feminine hygiene products or don’t have access to them whatsoever.

These women don’t have the time, money or means of transportation to get feminine hygiene products. We subconsciously believe that these products are a right to us, but clean feminine hygiene products are actually a privilege; a privilege too many women don’t have.

Take a moment. Consider what your life would be like without supplies, and donate to the annual feminine hygiene drive. Women around the world feel helpless and unclean every time they get their period. Luckily, with your help, we can begin to change that. If you wouldn’t want to suffer through this, why should any other woman?

CSJ has extended the drive to two weeks, and we encourage every student to donate at least one box of tampons or pads. Nobody understands the struggles of the menstrual cycle like a girl, and we need to help our fellow women out there. Use your $5 you’ve been saving for JoJo’s and buy a box of tampons to donate for a woman who has never had any. It takes just a few minutes at CVS to make one woman’s life that much easier.