{"id":1393,"date":"2020-01-14T08:27:08","date_gmt":"2020-01-14T16:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sdc.wastateleg.org\/dhingra\/?p=1393"},"modified":"2020-09-17T00:10:00","modified_gmt":"2020-09-17T00:10:00","slug":"this-group-handed-out-1900-feminine-hygiene-care-bags-to-tacoma-girls-last-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/2020\/01\/14\/this-group-handed-out-1900-feminine-hygiene-care-bags-to-tacoma-girls-last-year\/","title":{"rendered":"This group handed out 1,900 feminine hygiene \u2018care bags\u2019 to Tacoma girls last year"},"content":{"rendered":"
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From The News Tribune<\/a><\/h3>\n
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Sharon Winesberry was in high school when she got her first period.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n

\u201cI was in the middle of a class … what is happening to me?,\u201d Winesberry recalled. \u201cAbsolutely no supplies whatsoever to take care of myself … It was so devastating.\u201d<\/p>\n

The experience drove Winesberry, now 65, to volunteer for\u00a0Raising Girls<\/a>, a Tacoma nonprofit that aims to overcome the costs and stigma of menstruation for school-aged girls.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere are many girls who are missing classes because they don\u2019t have access to hygiene products,\u201d said Sharon Chambers-Gordon, the founder and CEO of Raising Girls.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Schools in Washington typically do not provide menstrual pads and tampons, said Chambers-Gordon. In California and a handful of other states, the law requires schools<\/a>\u00a0to stock bathrooms with menstrual products.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The 57-year-old Jamaica-raised woman said she\u2019s had a life-long streak of giving back to her community, instilled by her mother. Although she was aware of \u201cperiod poverty,\u201d as it\u2019s sometimes called, she didn\u2019t realize the magnitude of need in the Tacoma area until her then middle school-aged daughter related stories from her schoolmates.<\/p>\n

Raising Girls centers itself around the distribution of large tote bags that contain menstruation products, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, toothpaste, tooth brush, wash rags, deodorant, a small carrying bag and a handwritten note of encouragement.<\/p>\n

Each bag contains about two months of supplies, Chambers-Gordon said.<\/p>\n

The need for the bags is great, she said. 2018 census data identified 7,500 girls in the South Sound who live in low-income households in Pierce County.<\/p>\n

Low-income families will put rent, food, medicine and other necessities ahead of hygiene products if money is tight, Chambers-Gordon said. Food stamps do not cover such products.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are working minimum wage, maybe even two or three jobs, it doesn\u2019t give you enough to pay your basic rent, have transportation to go to work and buy hygiene products,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

When a girl is having her period but can\u2019t afford tampons or pads,\u00a0she\u2019s likely to just stay home,<\/a>\u00a0at least one study has shown.<\/p>\n

\u201cA school nurse may have a pad or two but when (the girls) go home they don\u2019t have access to that,\u201d Chambers-Gordon said.<\/p>\n

In addition to a degraded education, a girl\u2019s social connections can suffer when she\u2019s in self-imposed isolation.<\/p>\n

Middle school and high school girls can get the care bags at six middle schools and five high schools in the Tacoma Public Schools system. All were identified as having high needs, Chambers-Gordon said.<\/p>\n

Raising Girls also delivers care bags to local service organizations including\u00a0Boys and Girls Club of South Puget Sound<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Tacoma Urban League<\/a>. The bags and hygiene products also are provided to girls in foster care and the juvenile justice system.<\/p>\n

About 200 of the care bags were distributed at two Boys and Girls Club branches in 2019, said spokeswoman Jinnie Horan.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the girls received them, they lit up,\u201d Horan said. \u201cIt was the breadth and the scope of the items inside. It wasn\u2019t just a hygiene kit, it was a pretty girl kit. It had things that made them feel good and smell good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Girls were impressed with the name brand items and the personal touches, Horan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething that stood out for them were the hand written notes,\u201d she said. \u201cThat meant a lot to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

CARE BAGS<\/h3>\n

On a recent January evening, Chambers-Gordon\u2019s two-car garage was filled to the ceiling with packed bags and neatly arranged shelves holding the products that go into them. Except for her vehicle, there was room for little else.<\/p>\n

Blue bags with menstrual pads go to middle school girls, red bags with pads and tampons are for high school girls and a smaller number of black bags \u2014 minus the feminine hygiene products \u2014 go to boys.<\/p>\n

Upstairs, Winesberry and the 12 other women who serve on the group\u2019s leadership team, were writing thank-you notes to donors.<\/p>\n

Chambers-Gordon launched Raising Girls in 2017. A real estate broker, she pursues her avocation after hours.<\/p>\n

At first, she and her like-minded helpers spent their own money. Now, they solicit donations.<\/p>\n

In 2019, the group distributed 1,500 bags. For some schools, they have become an integral part of the safety net.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese bags are vital for students who lack the means \u2014 or simply did not anticipate the need \u2014 to have access to products vital to their health and hygiene while allowing them to stay focused on school,\u201d said\u00a0Lincoln High School<\/a>\u00a0principal Pat Erwin.<\/p>\n

Raising Girls\u2019 work is starting to get notice beyond the school setting.<\/p>\n

In December, the organization was given a\u00a0BECU People Helping People Awards<\/a>. The grant \u2014 $54,400 \u2014 was the largest given, and it tripled Chambers-Gordon\u2019s budget overnight.<\/p>\n

The cash will go a long way to increasing Raising Girls\u2019 mission, but it\u2019s still short of what Chambers-Gordon estimates she needs to supply those 7,500 girls and some boys six times per year in Pierce County: $1.2 million.<\/p>\n

Raising Girls also is pushing for the end of the\u00a0so-called \u201cpink tax\u201d<\/a>\u00a0or \u201ctampon tax\u201d<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 the tax on feminine hygiene products. Washington is one of 37 states that impose the tax.<\/p>\n

Changes to taxes would come from legislative action. In the meantime, a state senator is working on the issue from a different angle.<\/p>\n

Sen. Manka Dhingra<\/a>\u00a0(D-45th District) has introduced Senate Bill 6037, which aims to require public schools to provide feminine hygiene products at no cost in the schools\u2019 bathrooms.<\/p>\n

Dhingra said she was spurred to action after a presentation by girls at\u00a0Lake Washington High Schoo<\/a>l in Kirkland. Like a lot of girls around the nation, they were forced to ask the school nurse for emergency supplies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t ask people to go to the school nurse to get toilet paper,\u201d Dhingra said. \u201cWhy would we ask them to get feminine hygiene products from the nurse?\u201d<\/p>\n

The bill has bipartisan support, she said. A hearing will be held Friday, Jan. 17. Dhingra expects students to testify.<\/p>\n

Funding for the bill would not come from the state. Instead, Dhingra hopes to work with corporations or non-profits like Raising Girls.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really is about normalizing the human body and getting rid of the stigma,\u201d Dhingra said.<\/p>\n

HOW YOU CAN HELP<\/h3>\n

\u25aa\u00a0<\/span>Donate to Raising Girls:\u00a0raisinggirls.org<\/a><\/p>\n

\u25aa\u00a0<\/span>Host a donation drive or bin to collect personal hygiene products.<\/p>\n

\u25aa\u00a0<\/span>Write inspirational cards for girls.<\/p>\n

\u25aa\u00a0<\/span>Host a packing party.<\/p>\n

\u25aa\u00a0<\/span>Sponsor a school supported by Raising Girls.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Craig Sailor<\/div>\n
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Founder and CEO Sharon Chambers Gordon, second from right in glasses, is surrounded by Raising Girls teammates bearing bags containing personal hygiene products that will be donated to under-served girls in Tacoma public schools and other organizations. Chambers Gordon says the lack of access to these essentials is born of poverty.\u00a0DREW PERINE<\/span>\u00a0DPERINE@THENEWSTRIBUNE.COM<\/span><\/figcaption>