Flow Forward

Hello, we are team Flow Forward! Our tagline, “Providing menstrual products to the North Texas community” is our mission in a nutshell.

Menstruation is an experience that affects nearly half of the world’s population, showing that period poverty is a global issue. Period poverty is “the lack of access to menstrual hygiene products; water; soap; private, safe, clean sanitation services to manage menstrual cycles.” This issue affects individuals' personal health, as well as their livelihood. Access to menstrual products is a serious problem specifically in homeless shelters. Without these products, people must use “uncomfortable materials to manage their cycles, like wadded tissue or crumpled newspaper” (Backpacks USA).

In North Texas, “there are more than 150,000 female-led households living below poverty line,” states Kathy Meyer, co-founder of SheSupply. This nonprofit has delivered over 1 million menstrual products to women in the North Texas area. Women living below the poverty level struggle to access menstrual products, resulting in them being unable to leave their homes to perform everyday tasks like going to work or school. This strips women from education and economic opportunities, depleting their mental health, hygiene, and overall wellness.

Period poverty creates a cycle that inevitably causes young girls to succumb to economic and social poverty. The cycle first begins with the insufficiency of period products which then leads to the absence of their presence in school. Poor grades are a result of not attending school which can cause them to either drop out of school or end up with a poor job. It makes women stay in a lower socio-economic class.

By providing menstrual products, we can help women and young girls break the period poverty cycle and give them a better chance at success in school and the workplace. We support She Supply, based in Flower Mound, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit volunteer organization providing menstrual products to the North Texas area. They donate a year’s worth of products to women and menstruators to help end period poverty. With $500, we can help SheSupply provide 20 women with a year’s worth of period products – that’s equivalent to almost 5,000 menstrual pads!