Project Marilyn
With a mission to end period poverty, Project Marilyn works to provide menstrual supplies to homeless people with periods here in Southern Nevada.
Named after founder Wendi Schweigart’s mother, Project Marilyn opened in April of 2019. Wanting to provide people with dignity in her mother’s name, Schweigart used Marilyn’s face and signature, complete with her iconic lashes and skin-tone lipstick color, as the logo for the organization.
Discussing her inspiration, Schweigart shared that reading an article in People Magazine about the ‘Homeless Period’ moved her to action.
“It really hit me in the gut that here I am, a grown woman who’s menstruated for years, and yet I’ve never thought about what a homeless person does when they’re on their period,” she said. “It really touched me, and I wanted to do something about that.”
She went on to say that menstruation “defies politics, religion, and other predetermined things.”
This is because, regardless of any of those things, people still menstruate. And everyone deserves dignity when dealing with this natural bodily function.
“We need to work to end the stigma around period products for all people who use them and put a dent into ending period poverty,” she said. “But we can’t do it alone.”
Period Posse: Bringing the Community Together
Project Marilyn works with many organizations, sponsors, and volunteers to achieve its mission and help the houseless community in need. Together, they provide period kits to people in shelters, schools, and throughout the community.
Schweigart mentioned a couple of organizations that she works closely with – Cupcake Girls and Shine a Light.
Cupcake Girls provide support and resources to individuals working in the adult industry and aftercare to those affected by sex trafficking. Shine a Light is a non-profit organization doing outreach to the homeless community in the tunnels of Las Vegas. Project Marilyn supplies groups like these with period kits to hand out to the people these organizations help.
In addition, Project Marilyn also works with other organizations and sponsors like Project 150, Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth, Salvation Army, the Las Vegas Rescue Mission, The Shade Tree, and the Just One Project. Through their collaborations with these entities, Project Marilyn helps many different parts of the community have access to menstrual products.
Volunteers
Furthermore, the amazing volunteers who help put together the period kits make all of this possible. When the organization first started, she said that a few friends helped her to pack the kits before COVID hit. After that, it was mostly her packing them by herself and with her son or husband occasionally.
During the pandemic, demand for period products grew, and she had to start finding strangers to volunteers with her. This was a big step outside of her comfort zone but that it moved her to see how many people wanted to help her and her organization’s mission. Now, when she posts a kit-packing event, volunteer spots “fill up instantly.”
“I’ve found that people want to do good, be good, and be helpful, all while making an impact,” Schweigart said. “We actually have a lot of older people helping, especially moms with kids. People come together from all sorts of backgrounds to help the community.”
“My favorite part of all this is meeting and working with all the volunteers. They’re all kind, dynamic people with big personalities and big hearts,” she said. “Everyone who comes in wants to hear about the cause and my mom and all the things.”
Project Marilyn: Raising Awareness and Breaking Down Stigmas
When it comes to period products and menstruation in general, there is a lot to unpack. Schweigart shared that when she started developing the organization, she learned a lot about the issues people with periods face.
What Homeless and Impoverished People Do When Menstruating
From reading the article in People Magazine, Schweigart learned that homeless people resort to extraordinary measures to manage their periods. This includes using wads of toilet paper, napkins, tissues, rags, socks, and other types of cloth as pads.
They also might use improvised means such as wrapping toilet paper around pens to make a make-shift tampon.
Some people even risk their health by leaving tampons in for longer than the recommended four to eight hours. This puts them at risk of Toxic Shock Syndrome, a bacterial infection that can be life-threatening.
Lastly, some people without access to period products or even toilet paper are left with nothing to use at all. This doesn’t just apply to homeless people; it applies to people in varying levels of poverty.
“When you have to choose between food or feeding your kids and pads, you’re going to pick food,” Schweigart said. And for children in poverty who hit puberty and need menstrual products when their family can’t afford them, it adds a whole other layer of issues.
When dealing with their body changing while not being able to afford the supplies necessary for their period, it affects their mental and emotional health and physical health.
“If you’re a 12-year-old in school who doesn’t have a tampon or even a pad to use, the fear and embarrassment of bleeding through your clothes can stay with you for a long time,” Schweigart commented. She added that there’s also the lack of discreetness involved in schools regarding the issue, as one has to go to the nurse’s office to request a pad.
“It should be privately accessible at school, in the bathroom, so they don’t even have to ask,” she said.
Moreover, she mentioned a girl in Reno working on this exact issue, fighting to have period products supplied for free in all public schools, citing that “discreetness goes a long way” when providing dignity for menstruating students.
Cost and Accessibility of Period Products
You’d likely be as shocked as I was to learn that federal programs like SNAP, EBT, Medicaid, and even health insurance can’t be used to purchase period products.
“They’re considered a “luxury,” not a necessity,” Schweigart explained. “When you’re talking about a natural bodily function that you have no control over, it’s absolutely not a luxury. There’s nothing luxurious about this.”
Ultimately, this causes a lack of accessibility to a product that people require every month. On top of this, many places in the country tax period products, also considering them a “luxury.” For people who are impoverished or homeless, every penny counts when purchasing essentials, including menstrual products. Luckily for Nevadans, the state voted to end the period-tax in 2018, citing that it put an undue burden on those needing these essential products.
In addition, Schweigart said that requirements for Health Savings Accounts were recently updated to include period products, whereas before, they weren’t covered.
“We need to make it to where people who need period supplies can just have them,” she said. “Public restrooms provide toilet paper for free, so why not tampons and pads?”
Misinformation and Stigma Surrounding Periods
In general, when it comes to menstruation, much stands in the way of making the topics less taboo to discuss or deal with.
“It’s Gross”
One assumption involves the belief that periods are “dirty” or “gross.” In particular, men often have an aversion to the subject of menstruation.
“There’s a lot of general disgust surrounding it,” Schweigart said. She shared an instance where an older man came in to drop something off for his wife, and he asked what the organization does.
“I told him we provide period products to the homeless, and he cringed and made a face,” she said. “It reminded me that there’s a lot of people out there uncomfortable with the very idea of periods. And, there’s a lot of work to be done around breaking the stigma for this biological function.”
Lack of Education
A major factor in the taboo nature of discussing periods involves the lack of education surrounding them.
Recounting my own experience, when I was in 5th grade, they separated the boys from the girls when they spoke to us about our bodies. This means that the boys had no education on periods or what menstruation is or involves. When we were in middle school and taught sex-ed, menstruation was left out, along with other crucial information.
And when parents often avoid the topic of conversation, even with their menstruating children, generations of kids grow up with no idea about periods or period products.
This is how we get notions from people who think that one can just “hold” the period like one holds their bladder when they have to pee, or that even touching an unopened tampon is equatable to touching period blood itself.
From home to school, education surrounding periods lacks tremendously. And, pun intended, this effect bleeds out into our society in many harmful ways.
Out of Sight, Out of Mind
In part, the lack of conversation leads to instances where people who mean well don’t even think about period products when donating supplies to homeless organizations or domestic violence shelters.
“Period supplies are the least donated products,” Schweigart said.
An issue kept in the dark means that people don’t receive the help they need for it.
Providing Period Products to All Menstruating People
Another thing people overlook when talking about periods and period products, is the inclusivity that is needed in the discussion.
You may have noticed that throughout this article I’ve written “people with periods”, as opposed to women; or “period products” as opposed to feminine hygiene. There is a specific reason I’ve done this: people of the LGBTQ+ community are often left out of the discussion.
Whether we’re talking about people who don’t identify as female, people who still menstruate before transitioning, or any other situation where one menstruates, the discussion must include all people who deal with periods.
Project Marilyn actively supports the inclusivity of all menstruating human beings and fights for dignity for all people who menstruate. As does Millennials in Motion Magazine. This is not up for debate.
Sexual Trauma and Tampons
Lastly, Schwiegart mentioned another issue that often goes overlooked when it comes to donations of period products. People assume that tampons are the preferred item to donate when they donate menstruation products.
When the organizations first started making their period kits, they put a mix of both tampons and pads in the bag. Over time, it came to Schweigart’s attention that people with sexual trauma and disabilities often can’t use tampons. In addition, there are many cultures where people also do not use tampons.
Learning about this led her to start packing different period kits to suit people’s needs better.
“In our regular bags, we put 15 tampons, five overnight pads, five hygiene wipes, and five panty liners,” she said. “We have a higher demand for pads, so our pink bags instead have 20 pads of different sizes, in addition to the other items, so people have an option.”
Schweigart formulated the number of products in the bags on the recommendations she learned from the FDA’s recommendation of an average cycle and the package directions for how often to change them.
“When I was looking up the logistics of everything for setting up the organization and how to provide supplies to people, I found that they recommended enough supplies for an average of five day’s worth of products.”
In addition, as PM’s website states, “If you are homeless, home insecure, or living in a shelter, you do not have room to store a large quantity of products. Adults and teens can carry these products with them as they move around and be confident that they are covered.”
Project Marilyn’s Biggest Goals and Challenges
Goals
Growing the Organization
When asked about the organization’s vision for the future, Schweigart said that she’s working on growing it efficiently while maintaining its focus and without losing the heart of her mission along the way.
“We want to stay small while being able to help as many people as we can, staying mostly in Southern Nevada,” she said. Though she mentioned that she’d be happy to help other people and organizations with similar missions, and perhaps one day even help sponsor other chapters of Project Marilyn in other cities.
For now, she works with her affiliates to keep the mission going and provide help to those who need it. One affiliate, in particular, has been a tremendous help.
“We’re partnered with the Alliance for Period Supplies, which is also affiliated with national
diaper banks, all operating under the Kimberly Clark umbrella of allied programs,” she said.
Project Marilyn is the official representative in Southern Nevada for the Alliance of Period supplies. As part of this affiliation, Kotex makes frequent donations of pads to the organization. Unfortunately, because tampons are considered medical-grade devices, most organizations won’t donate them, so Project Marilyn relies on the public for these supplies.
Working More Directly with Clients
Wanting to stay local, Schweigart spoke of how she’d like to expand their efforts in the community. This includes helping others start a period product bank and a pantry so they can do direct client service.
Ultimately, having as many outlets as possible available for people is a top priority for the organization, with an end game of providing the period kits to people personally.
“Direct client interaction is the best,” she said. Explaining, she provided the example of working with the Just One Project, which hosts a senior food pantry as well as monthly pop-ups and give-markets.
At one such event, the Project Marilyn “Period Posse” distributed bags directly to the people in the line. Through that, they got to see the direct impact they make and receive feedback from people on how to serve the community better.
Part of the goal for direct client services involves letting people pick and choose what they need and how much within a certain limit.
“We want to make it a more personalized service for the client, rather than assuming what’s best or limiting what we can give to them.”
Right now, Project Marilyn focuses on packing the kits and then dropping them off to other organizations who then distribute the kits to those who need them,
“We’d like to distribute personally, but it’d require a full staff, more locations, and more funding,” Schweigart explained.
Until that goal can be achieved, Project Marilyn focuses on expanding their distribution points and increasing the dignity involved with providing their kits. Eventually, Schweigart said, they want to provide people more discretion when they need the kits.
Essentially, instead of people having to request a tampon or pad, they can instead go to a partner location and ask about the Project Marilyn bag without having to disclose any other information.
“I’d like to see Project Marilyn become a household name here in Southern Nevada so that when you hear about it, you know what it’s referring to,” she said.
Challenges Project Marilyn Faces
Fundraising
As with most community efforts, fundraising is an ongoing challenge with operating the organization.
“People are often happy to donate the products we need to help the community, but it’s harder to explain to people how donating to overhead costs also helps our mission, too,” she said.
She added that she understands why people don’t want to donate to that. But without the lights on, storage space, gas for the car, and so on, the mission doesn’t happen either.
“A lot of people don’t realize the business side of running a non-profit. Having a consistency of money means that we get to keep doing this,” she said. To raise funds, Project Marilyn encourage people to become a monthly donor.
Sponsor a Project Marilyn Bag
“Just $10 per month funds a whole bag for someone. This provides one person with all the supplies they need for their cycle that month!” Schwiegart explained. “Sometimes we’ll get a palette of supplies, which is great, but we might not see that amount of product for a while. The monthly donations through the website keep the revenue stream consistent.”
Presently, the organization only has about ten or so monthly sponsors but gets occasional large chunks from people. Every penny counts, so spreading the word helps increase the number of funds raised.
Being in the third year of growth, Project Marilyn cannot yet apply for grants. As they approach that third year, they’re preparing everything for when the time comes to apply for that assistance.
Period Poverty Awareness Raffle
Right now, Project Marilyn is conducting a raffle for Period Poverty Awareness Week. Learn more and enter the raffle at https://projectmarilynraffle.charityraffles.org/
According to the raffle description, “One in four people cannot afford period supplies in a given year due to lack of income. All proceeds from this raffle help more people in our community have a healthy, dignified period. Period supplies should not be a luxury, PERIOD!”
Spreading the Word About Project Marilyn
Another challenge for Project Marilyn ties into the stigma surrounding periods and how to broach the subject respectfully.
“Keeping the message out there and translating it as intended is challenging at times,” Schweigart said. “It’s a mix between keeping the discussion dignified yet fun and light-hearted, all without making a mockery of it.”
She added that the last thing you want to do is get a bad rep for over-promising underserving.
“I always try to keep open communication with our supporters and maintain transparency at all times. We do everything with the best of intentions,” she said. Ultimately, this builds and keeps the community’s trust in the organization, so it doesn’t lose their support along the way.
“We want to do anything to make it fun but keep it dignified,” she said. “At the end of the day, I want people to have dignity and self-respect and feel liberated with their periods.”
Breaking Down Stigmas
Ultimately, Schweigart said that people could best help people with periods by doing a few things. First and foremost, talk about it and have conversations with others about the issue to make it less taboo.
“Talk to your sons, husbands, and men, in general, when given the opportunity,” she said. “We need to make it a part of our daily vernacular. We shouldn’t have to hide it or whisper about it or treat it like a dirty word.”
“I’d like to get to the point where when someone says they have to go put a tampon in, it’s on the same level of “normal” as someone saying they have to go blow their nose because it’s runny,” she added.
From there, she said that taking the cause seriously and sharing experiences helps tremendously.
#GetinMotion with Project Marilyn
The best ways to help Project Marilyn achieve their goal involves volunteering to pack period kits and spreading the word about the organization. To volunteer, contact Wendi directly at Wendi@ProjectMarilyn.com or call (702)-595-7027.
Follow Project Marilyn on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Check out the website at https://projectmarilyn.com/. Donate directly to the organization through the website by scrolling down or clicking the “Contribute” button at the top. Consider making your donation monthly and “set it and forget.”
Aside from that, check out their Amazon wishlist to provide them with ideal products to go in the period kits. And, set your Amazon Smile account to contribute to Project Marilyn when you make purchases.
The organization also accepts any donation that is individually wrapped. While they can’t use certain products in the bags, like baby wipes, all donations get used or donated to another organization in need. Drop off donations to the Project Marilyn office at 6640 W. Cheyenne Ave. Ste. 150 Las Vegas, NV 89108. The office is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm and closed on the weekends.
