Imagine not having access to period products at school and then missing school the next day as well. One in every four girls, or 25%, of the United States experiences period poverty. Without period products, menstruators can miss up to five days of school per month, leading to 45 days of school being missed per year.
The 914 Cares bake sale raised nearly one thousand dollars to raise money for period poverty.
The leaders of the 914 Cares club, Jiya Dakhad and Cornelia Gruenberg, hosted this bake sale to raise money and increase awareness. 914 Cares is a critical resource for people living in poverty, providing families with personal care products and clothes. This bake sale contributed to raising money for period products that will be distributed.
Senior Jiya Dakhad is one of the leaders in the 914 Cares club. To support menstruators living in poverty, Jiya’s club assembles “Flow Kits,” which include a month’s worth of period products. “Flow Kits” include period products, such as pads, tampons, and period underwear.
“914 Cares is a non-profit that basically serves to assist those in poverty in Westchester. They have a lot of programs. They do period banks, hygiene banks, clothing banks, and then they’ll do a lot of just like, personal care packs. I’m on one of the boards, and we have to do a lot of stuff in our school to promote them, and I thought this was a really good way. I think now a lot of people know about the cause,” Jiya said.
Emily DeMarchena, teacher of the Service Leadership for Social Impact class, Jiya Dakhad, and Cornelia Gruenburg want people to be educated about period poverty, which is why they presented in Diller Hall, before the bake sale. A video of a high schooler who could not afford period products was played, a moving example of the impact of living with periods for students.
The video was meant to hook the audience and draw attention to period poverty in a digestible form.
“It’s really important for people to realize that people in our community need these products that we fortunately have access to. We need to give some of our wealth back to them. When I was talking about this with Ms. DeMarchena, the biggest thing we wanted to do was bridge the gap between what people know and what they think they know,” Jiya said.
Period poverty can be overlooked by people who don’t experience it or don’t have a period. The bake sale not only raised money, but also educated the people who may not have been aware that period poverty existed.
“I think in terms of educating people, it was really effective because there were a lot of guys there who came up to our thing and said, ‘I’m buying tampons right now.’ Sure, they could have been joking, but it was kind of nice that everyone was coming up to the bake sale. Not just women, not just female teachers. Everyone was coming up and donating, which was really nice,” Katie said.
The outcome of the bake sale was amazing. Jiya and Cornelia did not expect to raise the amount of money they did.
“The outcome of the bake sale was very successful. We were able to sell out fully once and almost a second time, which is much more than we expected. We raised almost a thousand dollars, which was much more than we expected,” Katie said.
Sophomore Katie Yalmokas purchased items from the bake sale and enjoyed contributing to a struggle she is familiar with.
“A world issue I’m very passionate about is making sure everyone has period products because it’s so painful when you don’t have them. So to know that some people live permanently without having them, like, it felt like I was actually donating to a good cause,” Katie said.
The 914 Cares bake sale made a huge impact on students. It educated Hackley students and faculty on the period poverty issue, which cultivated both empathy and sympathy, which cultivates the desire to provide for under-resourced people.
