American students provide homeless women with free pads and tampons

For women, menstruation is a natural and regular part of life. But for those experiencing homelessness, finding a pad or tampon can be harder than finding a meal or a new pair of socks.

Rayna Blackburn, who has been homeless on and off for the past several years, tells Portland street paper Street Roots how she would fashion her own pads when she couldn't afford them or find any at local shelters.

Periods can be a nightmare for homeless women. REUTERS/Andy Clark

"I took a towel and cut it in pieces and used a plastic bag to wrap them with… I would wash one, let it dry while I was using another so I could rotate."

When turning to shelters for help, Rayna adds that she has sometimes been offered nothing but a paper towel. "I've seen [other women] take tampons and rinse them out and reuse them," she says. "It's not OK."

Unsanitary products, a lack of clean spaces to change a tampon or pad, or using the same product for too long can all lead to serious and sometimes fatal bacterial infections, such as toxic shock syndrome.

Some shelters and aid agencies keep small supplies of pads and tampons on hand, but even then, they are available only to those who ask.

"These are really natural needs but the idea that these topics are private doesn't only exist in the society but also within individuals," says Nadya Okamoto.

L to R: Giselle Cohen, Vincent Forand and Nadya Okamoto.

The 15-year-old is one of eight high school students from Portland, Oregon, who founded Camions of Care, a non-profit that provides free feminine hygiene products to women living on the streets.

Since December 2014, it has delivered more than 350 care packages across Portland, which contain enough pads, tampons and fresh wipes to last a woman six days, the average length of a period.

The project aims to empower women and destroy the view of pads and tampons as mere "comfort items".

Camion's co-founder Giselle Cohen adds that, "if you don't have the supplies to handle your own body, you can't advocate for yourself in the same way. You can't be looking for a job during that time. So that's four to six days a month where you have to basically be secluded."

Public support for the project, which now works with 50 volunteers, continues to grow. Street Roots is among many organizations now partnering with Camions of Care to distribute the packages

As of January 2015, Camions of Care expanded their service to homeless women in Salt Lake City, Utah through a partnership with Legacy Initiative. You can read more about their work here. 

This is a summary of an article by Ann-Derrick Gaillot originally published by Street Roots. It has been made available to other INSP members via the INSP News Service here. (Photo of Camion's founders by Reuben Schafir).

Mobile showers offer dignity to San Francisco’s homeless

By Laura Smith 

In San Francisco, a local non-profit is restoring dignity to hundreds of homeless people, one hot shower at a time.

In a city where approximately 7000 people are homeless, there is just a handful of free washing facilities available to those living on the streets.

Lava Mae aims to change that by converting decommissioned city buses into mobile shower units, complete with hot running water and free shower, toilet and changing facilities. 

The project piloted its first bus on the streets of San Francisco in June 2014. It was soon providing between 300 and 500 showers a week to homeless people across the city.

Lava Mae's founder Doniece Sandoval said: "The first time people see the bus, they can't believe it contains showers and toilets. Their reaction is the most rewarding part of the project.

"It's been humbling to have someone thank you profusely for something so simple - something that the rest of us take for granted."

Here's what service user Bobby had to say after his first time on board the Lava Mae bus.



Doniece originally raised $75,000 to fund the first Lava Mae bus through crowdfunding site Indiegogo.

So far, the non-profit has sourced $110,000 through online crowdfunding and received a $100,000 grant from Google as a part of its Bay Area Impact Challenge program. This means they can now start work on creating a second unit.

Doniece aims to eventually have a fleet of four bright blue buses operating across San Francisco. "Once we have four buses on the road, we can offer 50,000 showers per year," she says.

But Lava Mae isn't just about providing hot showers for the homeless. It works on the idea that people experiencing homelessness can't access jobs or housing, or maintain health and well-being, if they can't get clean.

With hygiene comes dignity, and with dignity comes opportunity, says Doniece.

"It's been incredibly rewarding to hear stories of guests lining up job interviews, getting housing and generally improving their lives by being able to get clean on a regular basis.

"It's really amazing what a shower can do and the possibilities it can unlock."

Lava Mae is also starting to offer support and advice to hundreds of organisations that have already shown interest in replicating the project in their own communities, from cities in Santa Clara and Hawaii to Nigeria and South Korea.

For more information visit www.lavamae.org

Photos courtesy of Lava Mae/Sole Moller. This is a summary of an article by Laura Smith for INSP's News Service. You can read the original version here. Street paper editors can click here to view, download and republish the full article.