People who are homeless or otherwise struggling to afford basic expenses, like housing or groceries, can be even more vulnerable to period poverty<\/a>, a concept defined as insufficient access to period products and sanitation facilities.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing downtown, we get a lot of foot traffic and a lot of unhoused people walking back and forth,\u201d said Debbie Frare, a volunteer with SWAN. \u201cIt\u2019s a good location for folks to use it, and we just think it\u2019s a way that we can help the community \u2014 help women \u2014 which is especially important to us.\u201d <\/p>\n Stand With Abortion Now is a grassroots, volunteer-based group of abortion clinic escorts that launched shortly after the fall of Roe v. Wade in 2022, the overturning of the constitutional right to abortion after nearly 50 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n The SWANs, as they dub themselves, help to protect and shield patients<\/a> of the local abortion clinic from a motley crew of protesters<\/a>, who will often try to film or otherwise shame those who walk into the clinic\u2019s doors. When the abortion clinic was facing risk of closure<\/a> a couple of years ago, due to steep fines from the state government, the group got national media attention<\/a> for raising nearly $200,000<\/a> to help keep the doors open.<\/p>\n But Frare, who began her own volunteering days as a clinic escort back in the mid-1970s (just after abortion was first legalized) said SWAN also wanted to find other ways to help meet the needs of the community. \u201cAs a group, we did a brainstorm on things we could do that would help our patients, help our community, and the idea of a period pantry came up,\u201d Frare explained.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not a brand-new concept.<\/p>\n Tampa Bay Abortion Fund activist Bree Wallace opened her own period pantry<\/a> in the Tampa Bay region back in 2023. And this year, inspired by other independent period pantries, local high school student Boey Cho similarly set up her own period pantry concept<\/a> in Orlando, dubbed \u201cGo With the Flo,\u201d and established a 501(c)3 nonprofit in order to collect pantry donations.\u00a0<\/p>\n As The Community Paper reported last month, Cho currently has three pink period pantries set up<\/a> in Orlando proper: one at the thrift store Out of the Closet on Mills Avenue, another at Florida Rep. Anna Eskamani\u2019s district office in Lake Eola Heights, and a private pantry at Grace Medical Center, a nonprofit faith-based organization in the same neighborhood that offers medical care to underserved communities.<\/p>\n \u201cMenstruating isn\u2019t something we can control as humans. It\u2019s health care. Having access to products is health care, and people need to know that,\u201d Cho told the paper.<\/p>\n As Cho said, for people who menstruate, bleeding isn\u2019t a choice. If you live and work outside the home, managing that monthly cycle with products such as sanitary pads, tampons, a cup or even certain types of birth control (if you\u2019re insured or can otherwise afford it<\/a>) isn\u2019t really a choice, either.\u00a0<\/p>\n The struggle to afford period products, aka period poverty, however, is real. According to the Brookings Institute, period poverty has been linked<\/a> to \u201cnegative impacts on education and psychosocial outcomes\u201d and knows no geographic bounds, even in the richest country in the world<\/a>. The Wall Street Journal reported last year that the cost of period products, specifically pads and tampons, was rising faster<\/a> than food prices.<\/p>\n Frare herself bought a cabinet for SWAN\u2019s new pantry online, and filled the pantry up with its initial batch of menstrual and other hygiene supplies for about $250, she said. Located outside the Orlando Women\u2019s Center at 1103 Lucerne Terrace, she said their period pantry is \u201cunlocked, open, accessible all the time\u201d for anyone who needs it.\u00a0<\/p>\n No one will be asking you about your income, your ID, or to perform any other form of means-testing. \u201cI want people to know it\u2019s there and available to any and everybody you know who needs it,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re welcome to come and take whatever they need.\u201d<\/p>\n What: Orlando Period Pantry by SWAN<\/p>\n Where: 1103 Lucerne Terrace, Orlando, FL<\/p>\n Donate: To donate to SWAN\u2019s period period pantry, you can provide monetary donations via the group\u2019s GiveButter<\/a> (a donation platform) or buy products off their Amazon wishlist<\/a>. You can also find an Amazon wishlist for Cho\u2019s \u201cGo With The Flo\u201d period pantries here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Subscribe to Orlando Weekly newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n Follow us:\u00a0Apple News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>\u00a0| Or sign up for our\u00a0RSS Feed<\/a><\/p>\n Related Stories<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tThe debt relief initiative, made possible through funds from the Biden administration, has relieved medical debt for 302,000 people.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/6145576207672213520-e1761939958511-899x1024.jpg\")
Inside Orlando\u2019s new period pantry. Credit: Courtesy of Stand With Abortion Now (SWAN)<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n