Red Ruby Equity , an initiative by Girl Scout Troop 242, is tackling period poverty in Santa Clarita one menstrual product at a time. According to one of the three fliers created by troop member Vivian Wakefield, period poverty is “a term used to describe the lack of access to menstrual hygiene products and information on how to use them properly.” Creating a website and spreading the word, Troop 242’s incentive is to gather donations and products to donate to the Santa Clarita Valley Food Pantry and College of the Canyons.
“Our project is basically gathering up period products to help end period poverty in the Santa Clarita Valley. We want to make sure that people who can’t afford period products have them, because they’re a necessity and women’s health care should matter just as much as anything else,” Wakefield said. Along with Kaitlyn Hecker, Anvi Pola and the rest of the troop, the efforts were first made in an effort to complete a Silver Award .
According to the Girl Scout website, the Silver Award is one of the highest awards, for which Girl Scouts are encouraged to find an issue and make a difference after 50 hours of volunteer work. “We’ve started up websites and we’ve made fliers. On the website, there’s a wishlist that people can go on and buy stuff for, so we can get supplies that way,” Wakefield said.
“Around 14.2% of women are affected by period poverty. Since this number is so great, it’s important that they have the supplies that .
