October Member Meeting

6:30 - Social Hour

7PM - Dinner + Announcements + Speaker

Please read the note from Mary Piscatella below. She will be speaking at our meeting and I hope we can contribute to her menstrual product drive.

Hospitality for this event is assigned to Women with Last Names I-P. Please bring two beverages (bottle of wine, sparkling water or other nonalcoholic beverage you would serve in your own home).

Dignity For All Women. Period.

Hello! My name is Mary Piscatella, and I am a junior at Louisville High School. I am working towards my Girl Scout Gold Award entitled Dignity For All Women. Period., which aims to address the issue of acquiring menstrual products for homeless and low income women for free. 18.32% of the homeless in Los Angeles are women and products are costly, the cheapest boxes of pads and tampons averaging $8 per package.

According to an interview conducted in October 2016 by Bustle, a survey research site, many homeless and low income women do not have access to menstrual products, and turn to using cloth hand towels, paper towels from public restrooms, old pieces of clothing, or even plastic grocery bags. Because these products are not meant to be used in this very sensitive area of one’s body, serious infections can occur, creating a health hazard. Women wish to have dignity and are often forced to spend money on personal hygiene rather than on a meal.

Recently, I hosted a menstrual products donation drive, collecting over 6,000 products that were donated to the Westwood Transitional Village, an organization that works to transition homeless and low income families into permanent housing. If you are interested in aiding me with my project and providing much needed supplies for the women at the Village, please bring boxes of pads or tampons to the meeting on October 4th, and there will also be a box in the office for future donations to help with the longer term sustainability of this project.