SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) \u2014 At the Friends of the Poor and Catherine McAuley Center, the outdoor \u201cPeriod Project Closet,\u201d stocked with free menstrual products, was recently vandalized. Organizers say the setback is only strengthening their mission.<\/p>\n
What was meant to be a quiet, dignified way for people to get basic hygiene supplies was recently targeted by vandals.<\/p>\n
Staff at the center say someone kicked the bottom out of their outdoor Period Project Closet, a small cupboard stocked with free menstrual products available 24 hours a day.<\/p>\n
Assistant Director of Supportive Services Antonio Berardi says the damage was discovered while staff were doing a routine restock.<\/p>\n
\u201cEarlier Monday afternoon we had went out to restock the pantry and one of our staff members realized that it had been vandalized and the products had been taken out of the box. At first, we figured what should we do, what would be the next course of action? We came up with a game plan and we\u2019re adamantly looking to get that fixed and hoping to restock that,” said Berardi.<\/p>\n
The closet allows people to take what they need privately and anonymously.<\/p>\n
Berardi says that privacy is an important part of the project.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt provides that dignity in the availability private without having to introduce yourself to a room full of people asking for something that sometimes is a little bit embarrassing to ask for, even though we would like most people to feel comfortable in their own skin,” said Berardi.<\/p>\n
The Period Project began during the COVID-19 pandemic nearly six years ago, when volunteers noticed that people struggling to access food were also struggling to find basic hygiene products.<\/p>\n
Mary-Pat Ward, Director of Development and Communications, says the organization realized menstrual products were another essential need going unmet.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor first time period users, all the way through those that were entering perimenopause and menopause, that means a lot of different products. We felt it was necessary for us to enter that conversation and to help as much as we can,” said Ward.<\/p>\n
Ward says the lack of access can have serious impacts on people\u2019s daily lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew of women, of people who have their periods, who were not able to go to school, were not able to go to work because they just didn\u2019t have the resources necessary to get access to period products in a dignified way that allowed them to do everyday life,” said Ward.<\/p>\n
The project not only provides products but also helps normalize conversations around menstrual health.<\/p>\n
Ward says the response online after the vandalism has been encouraging.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust the idea of being able to talk about period products and periods in general on social media with a tremendous amount of support, and not any comments that we would consider negative, which is a positive for us,” said Ward.<\/p>\n
Despite the damage, organizers say the reaction from the community has been overwhelming.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe support of the community is absolutely amazing, and we\u2019ve also had another volunteer who reached out and said \u2018yeah, I can help rebuild that.\u2019 So, it\u2019s been positive. Yes, it was disheartening, but as soon as the word went out everything from the comments on social media to people who have donated has been amazing,” said Ann Montoro William, manager of volunteers and outreach.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s incredibly disheartening to see that something that goes toward so much good in our community was vandalized, but we\u2019ve seen how the community has stepped up. We have turned that negative into a positive,” added Nicholas Sherman, manager of development. <\/p>\n
Staff say the closet may need to be replaced entirely after the damage, but volunteers are already offering to help rebuild it, and possibly expand the project by adding more closets in the area.<\/p>\n
Ward says regardless of what happened, their commitment to providing these products won\u2019t change.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to us that regardless of people\u2019s feelings about how we serve or who we serve, that we continue. If people go low, we go high. Ours is to continue providing that service. It would never stop,” said Ward.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, anyone who needs menstrual products can still stop by the Catherine McAuley Center during normal business hours.<\/p>\n
Staff also say anyone interested in donating supplies or helping rebuild the closet is encouraged to reach out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) \u2014 At the Friends of the Poor and Catherine McAuley Center, the outdoor \u201cPeriod…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179],"class_list":["post-137783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}