By Monica Minyard
The Rainbow Alliance Club is hosting a Sanitary Drive from March 3rd -13th. Students and faculty can drop off any sanitary hygiene products at the ASC Office in the Pirate Union Building. The intention of this drive is to kick off the new initiative, however, in order to sustain this operation, the ASC will be accepting donations thereafter.
Breanna Beck had the idea for this drive. She acts as Treasurer for the Rainbow Alliance Club. Her vision was to help those who experience the monthly cycle but are not always financially able to purchase the products. “I started this because most people who have their period has had their clothes ruined, had to ask others for products because they didn’t have their own, or even couldn’t afford their own because sanitary products are very expensive,” stated Beck. The sanitary drive allows anyone willing to donate sanitary products to ensure those who need them can have access to them, in whichever facility they desire to use. “I’m doing this in hope of putting sanitary products in all major restrooms on campus so that people that have menstrual cycles don’t have to go through certain things while on campus,” she said.
Beck said, “if you need to know why I explicitly said mans and women’s bathrooms is because we need to bring awareness to how many transgender and non- binary students we have on campus’ and I have no intention of leaving them behind because they might have menstrual cycles even if they don’t identify as a woman.” This will allow for many of those in need of personal hygiene products to have free access to them when necessary.
The donations can be taken to the ASC office. Beck says she will, most likely, keep track of the most used types and amounts in each restroom to help keep the availability steady and fulfilled for the needs of the students. The availability is intended to start this coming spring quarter.