OB-GYN Interest Group hosts menstrual product drive

Members of the Ob-Gyn Interest Group, from
left, Annie Xu, Macy Vickers, Rennan Zaharias
and Anna Woodham deliver menstrual products
to local women's shelters. 

Women and girls at local shelters now have more of the products they need for their menstrual cycles thanks to the efforts of students at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine. 

Inspired by the group’s collaboration with Period the Menstrual Movement, members of the OB-GYN Interest Group hosted a period product drive for the women of Penelope House and McKemie Place. Period is a global nonprofit organization that aims to end period poverty and stigma through service, advocacy and education.

The group chose to support Penelope House, a shelter for women and their children escaping from domestic violence, and McKemie Place, a community shelter exclusively for women, because women and girls experiencing housing instability may not have access to or the resources to purchase feminine hygiene products. 

“Our hearts go out to these women in imagining how difficult it would be to take care of one’s menstrual cycle if their housing situation is not stable,” said Rennan Zaharias, Period chapter liaison for the OB-GYN Interest Group. “The community at the USA College of Medicine really came together to provide for these women in Mobile.” 

Boxes placed in the Medical Sciences Building and the Mastin Patient Care Center collected about 200 packages of feminine hygiene products and reusable menstrual cups. Monetary donations of more than $100 allowed the group to purchase additional products to donate to the two shelters. 

The OB-GYN Interest Group started a Period chapter this past spring. The group’s presidents, Macy Vickers and Annie Xu, appointed Anna Woodham and Zaharias to be the Period chapter liaisons. 

“Some girls have to miss school because of their menstrual cycles, and some women miss work or miss out on potential job opportunities because of their cycles,” Zaharias said. “We don’t want women in our community to be hindered in their lives because of a natural physiologic process.” 

Zaharias said the drive was so successful that the OB-GYN Interest Group is planning to host the community service project annually. 

“We hope that our drive met some of the needs of the women in Penelope House and McKemie Place,” she said. “I speak for everyone when I say it was truly an honor to be a part of an organization working to stand up for and help women in this way.”