One pad and tampon at a time, Sadie Swan Hansen, grade 12, is fighting period poverty across the Orlando area. It began with a conversation with her mother’s friend, Barbara, who immigrated to the United States from Cuba around the age at which she entered puberty. Barbara’s family did not have a lot of money upon arriving in the United States, leaving little to no money for hygienic products such as pads or tampons. This left Barbara and her sisters using unhygienic methods to manage their periods, such as, “Old dish rags or crumpled newspaper in their underwear.” Sadie was, “Horrified at the thought of this.”
This sparked something in Sadie’s seventh-grade mind. As she did more research, she realized that, “Girls attending schools in my [her] neighborhood frequently resort to unhygienic ‘solutions,’ such as using plastic grocery bags in their underwear. Or, they just don’t attend school during their monthly cycle. Some girls also feel forced to sit out of sports because they don’t have appropriate protection.” As Sadie became aware that this was not an old issue, but an ongoing problem in her area, she knew she wanted to do something to help solve this problem.
That is when the Sister Swan Project was born. Sadie’s Sister Swan Project had one goal in mind, which was, “To support the sisters in our community by providing free pads and tampons at local schools.” Sadie, with the help of her family and some teachers from her school, started to collect feminine hygiene products. Sadie called local Title I schools to see if they needed any feminine hygiene products, and when some schools desperately needed help Sadie, “Felt an indescribable mixture of joy and sadness that there were people to help.”
To gain more awareness, Sadie started a Sister Swan Project Instagram account, and after only a matter of weeks from their first post, they had collected more 1,400 pads and tampons. Sadie said that, “The day of that first delivery is etched into my brain and heart forever” as she delivered two boxes almost the size of her height to a local high school. Five years later, Sadie is still going strong with her Sister Swan Project, dedicating time over the summer to prepare for the back-to-school deliveries. Sadie is proud to say that, “The Sister Swan Project has now collected and delivered more than 40,000 pads and tampons to schools in a 20-mile radius of my home.”
Hearing the story about Barbara, Sadie realized that period poverty has been an overlooked issue since at least the 1960s and is still ongoing to this day. This means that something needs to be changed in our communities to end period poverty. Sadie believes that this issue has been overlooked for so long because, “People are unwilling to talk about something that makes them feel uncomfortable. People have to be more willing to be bold and talk about something important, even when it’s uncomfortable, because the need is real. When we are willing to tackle uncomfortable topics, the impact is helpful and fulfilling.”
The Sister Swan Project has brought awareness to this problem locally, but it will not end period poverty globally, nationally, or even state-wide. To further the Sister Swan Project, Sadie states that, “A significant next step would be to work with legislators to pass legislation that will require all public schools and public restrooms to have feminine hygiene products available in all of the girls’ restrooms. This would be mission completion for the Sister Swan Project!” To help Sadie and her family fight period poverty in our local communities, please donate feminine hygiene products such as pads or tampons to the Sister Swan Project by contacting Sadie, emailing at [email protected], or DMing the Sister Swan Project Instagram: @sisterswanproject.
