Reducing “Period Poverty”

Celebrate International Menstrual Hygiene Day by hearing how a nonprofit started in a Schenectady basement in 2011 has expanded to provide free reusable and disposable products to low-income people who menstruate. Ellie Von Wellsheim, who started the Mooncatcher Project, talks about the reusable kits distributed to thousands of people in 37 countries, and the importance of health education as part of that work. She also discusses working with others to stock “Period Pantries” (or “blood boxes”) supplying free disposable menstrual products in the Capital Region. Join Ellie at a “Moon Bee” on May 27th, 2-4 pm, at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Schenectady to help make kits, and celebrate International Menstrual Hygiene Day on Sunday May 28th. For more information visit mooncatcherproject.org. For locations of regional period pantries, see schenectady.cce.cornell.edu/health-wellness/capital-region-menstrual-health. Produced by Brea Barthel for Hudson Mohawk Magazine.