While having menstrual hygiene products, such as tampons, pads, soaps and wipes, can seem like a regular thing, it’s not the case for many people who menstruate. Chelsea VonChaz saw a homeless woman crossing the street in blood-stained underwear and realized that something needed to be done.
Chelsea and her mother, Cherryl Warner, founded #HappyPeriod early in 2015 with the intention of creating a social movement of "girlfriends providing menstrual hygiene kids to anyone that is homeless, low-income, and/or living in poverty. Including LGBT, non-binary, teens, veterans, and disabled," according to their mission statement.
As it turns out, pads and tampons are rarely donated to shelters and those same hygiene products have no room in the budget of many shelters. Sadly, they’re not required to be included in any shelter’s budget either. With the help of social media, Chelsea put together a gathering on February 8th, 2015 and passed out hygiene kits to those in need of them on Skidrow in Downtown Los Angeles.
In the organization’s first year, the nonprofit became a huge movement with people supporting the cause in cities including New York City, Miami, Chicago, Atlanta and Washington D.C.
The organization accepts donations of pads, tampons, panty-liners, soap, wipes and unused underwear. You can check out the address to send them to here. They also have some great shirts and sweatshirts that say, "Hello, I’m Menstruating," which can be purchased here. Be sure to look out for their awesome enamel pins which are to be released soon!
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