MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee Diaper Mission may be best known for its diaper drives, but the organization also wants you talking about periods. More specifically, period poverty.
"A box of tampons may not seem like a very expensive item for some people, but to other people it truly is," said Diaper Mission Founder and Executive Director Meagan Johnson. "When I think about a mom who is at the checkout and she has a pack of diapers and a box of pads in her cart and she has to put the box of pads back on the shelf because she can only afford one item, of course she's going to choose the diapers for her baby."
Johnson started the Milwaukee Diaper Mission in 2020 after learning about the need many families have when it comes to diapers. Shortly after launching the basic needs bank, she also learned about period poverty.
"I had never heard about period poverty three years ago when I started this organization. And now that I know about it and talk about it on a daily basis, it's something that I've become very passionate about," Johnson shared.
Period poverty is defined by the Period Alliance as the "struggle to purchase period supplies due to lack of income."
Dignity Grows, another national organization dedicated to ending period poverty, found that since the pandemic 1 in 3 menstruators have experienced period poverty.
"This is something that is a natural, biological thing that happens to a lot of people around us and some of us. I think it needs to be talked about more. And when you talk about ending period poverty, it's not just about providing free products to a community, it's about raising awareness around the issue of period poverty and how expensive these products actually are," Johnson said.
The Diaper Mission teams up with social service agencies to help distribute the products. Allie Dorshorst, the basics needs coordinator at UWM, was picking up supplies for students on Monday.
"One of the things they kept saying is that they needed and wanted regular access to period supplies," Dorshorst said of students on campus.
In her role at the university, Dorshorst runs the food pantry, emergency grants program and loaner laptop program.
Period kits from Milwaukee Diaper Mission are one of the many things students can find at the food pantry on campus.
"It makes sense if you're food insecure, you're likely to be insecure in other areas especially period products. I think if you're having to decide between buying groceries that month or that week and buying period products, you're probably buying the groceries," Dorshorst said.
The Diaper Mission supplies its partners with both disposable and reusable period supplies. Johnson said that right now her organization is supporting 1,000 menstruators every month.
Dorshorst said it all comes down to making sure students don't have to worry about whether or not they'll miss class when their period comes.
"Groceries are expensive. Period products are expensive. Rent is expensive. So just anyway we can holistically support students is very important," Dorshorst said.
You can help the Milwaukee Diaper Mission provide period supplies, diapers and wipes throughout our community by clicking here.
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