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The Southeast Kansas chapter of the National Organization for Women (SEK NOW) is accepting menstrual product donations for their “It’s a Bloody Good Cause” donation drive.
Products will go to support young women in Pittsburg Community Schools USD 250, as well as Wesley House, a local mission that serves the homeless and low-income populations of Pittsburg. Cash donations are also accepted and will be met by the members of SEK NOW and local resident Michael Fienen up to $250.00.
“As an organization, part of our platform is equality for women, economic equality, and menstrual products are expensive,” said Deborah McGeorge, SEK NOW Media Coordinator. “They’re hard to get for poor women and poor students. And so, it fits right in with what we work on anyway.”
This is the second drive the organization has done, following the 2018 donation drive where the group collected roughly 10,000 menstrual products to distribute to local schools as Wesley House. Both events were inspired by a similar group they had seen online.
“I had seen, just on Facebook or someplace, I saw another group in another part of the country had done it and had stacked up all their donated menstrual products in town and took a picture, and I thought it was pretty cool,” McGeorge said.
After partnering with Wesley House and P3, a community group to help meet student needs, SEK NOW knew they could make it work.
“Once we knew there was a need, and we talked about it as a project the group could do, we had the ability,” said McGeorge. “We’re a small group, we don’t have a lot of people, but this is something that a small number of people could pull off.”
Despite spending hours in the cold at tables hoping to collect donations and build on last year’s success, for George, it’s worth it.
“It’s wonderful,” she said. “It’s such a good feeling to see people, be standing out at Walmart and community members come over and drop money in the jar, or go in and specifically buy products to bring them back out to us is wonderful. It’s very uplifting.”
At the end of the donation drive, SEK NOW will also be hosting a celebration at T.J. Leland’s at 108 W. 6th Street, Pittsburg, Kan. “A Bloody Good Event” will take place Friday, March 1 starting at 7:30 p.m. and music begins at 8:30 p.m., provided by the all-female bluegrass, rock, folk, and country band, Deadeye. There is a suggested donation of $5.00 or a menstrual product at the door.
Donations can be made in person at the Root Coffeehouse, 402 N. Broadway Suite A, or Looking Glass Salon, 106 W. 6th Street. Monetary donations are acceptable through Paypal or SquareCash to southeastksnow@gmail.com. Checks can also be mailed to SEK NOW at PO Box 354, Pittsburg, Kansas 66762.