Why is this Important?
According to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (2016), homelessness in Los Angeles County has continued to rise with a total of 46,874 in 2016. Within this population, women make up about 30% of the overall homeless population. The majority of these women are under the age of 54 years old. Therefore, we can assume that those who are under this age, are still menstruating and will benefit from feminine hygiene products.
This population encounters many issues such as lack of housing, lack of economic support, medical issues, mental health issues, lack of positive social supports, unavailable resources, etc. Lack of hygiene can exacerbate certain diseases and illnesses, trigger mental health issues, increase their susceptibility to discrimination and can overall put individuals at a higher risk for mortality.
On average, women spend about 4 to 8 dollars a month on feminine hygiene products. That is about 96 dollars a year. This is not even including other hygiene products such as toilet paper, shampoo, body wash, deodorant, toothpaste, etc.
Now we ask ourselves, how and where do homeless women receive these products when they cannot access them? There are resources such as shelters, missions, churches and non profit organizations that continuously provide to this vulnerable population. During our assessment, we realized that organizations that provide to homeless women lack donations in hygiene products. Many times because these items must be new, because people are not aware of the need or because some may feel uneasy about donating these products. There is no doubt that there is a need in accessibility to hygiene products. Therefore, The Ladybugs Movement provides all hygiene products and kits to these organizations to help sustain their commitment to servicing homeless women.
References:
visit The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority for full reports and statistics at
https://www.lahsa.org/
This population encounters many issues such as lack of housing, lack of economic support, medical issues, mental health issues, lack of positive social supports, unavailable resources, etc. Lack of hygiene can exacerbate certain diseases and illnesses, trigger mental health issues, increase their susceptibility to discrimination and can overall put individuals at a higher risk for mortality.
On average, women spend about 4 to 8 dollars a month on feminine hygiene products. That is about 96 dollars a year. This is not even including other hygiene products such as toilet paper, shampoo, body wash, deodorant, toothpaste, etc.
Now we ask ourselves, how and where do homeless women receive these products when they cannot access them? There are resources such as shelters, missions, churches and non profit organizations that continuously provide to this vulnerable population. During our assessment, we realized that organizations that provide to homeless women lack donations in hygiene products. Many times because these items must be new, because people are not aware of the need or because some may feel uneasy about donating these products. There is no doubt that there is a need in accessibility to hygiene products. Therefore, The Ladybugs Movement provides all hygiene products and kits to these organizations to help sustain their commitment to servicing homeless women.
References:
visit The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority for full reports and statistics at
https://www.lahsa.org/