Join us at the SHAPE + Health Women’s half-marathon
We are proud to once again be the official charity partner of the SHAPE + Health Women’s half-marathon on April 30, 2023 in Central Park, NYC. Food Bank will have a tent at the Race Day Festival where participants can drop off period products and hygiene essentials (new and unopened only, please) and make donations to the cause!
Food Bank will also be running with its very own team. If you’d like to run in support of our Woman to Woman campaign, you must complete these steps:
Food Bank launched Woman to Woman in 2016 with chef, author, and Food Bank Board Member Katie Lee Biegel. The award-winning campaign raises critical funds to assemble and distribute hygiene kits packed with pads, tampons, panty liners, diapers, deodorant, and soap to women and girls facing poverty in New York City. Learn more about the campaign (and get involved! ) below.
The Story
1 million women and girls live below the poverty line in New York City. Though there is no one reason why someone might struggle to feed and shelter themselves, for many of these New Yorkers, the cycle of poverty began with a seemingly innocuous thing – their first period.
Suddenly, they were hit with a new monthly cost that was not only necessary, but expensive. Over the course of a lifetime, the tab of tampons and pads (and diapers and baby formula for parents) can easily exceed thousands of dollars. For those already struggling to afford food, this is a cost they simply cannot bear.
So, they’ll often go without, spending the money on groceries and rent instead. But the story doesn’t end there.
When people can’t access the products they need to menstruate safely, they can’t go to school or work. Missed opportunities pile up and as the years and decades wear on, it can be nearly impossible to catch up. The hard truth is that you can’t break the cycle when you were never given the tools to fight it in the first place.
And that’s what Food Bank For New York City’s Woman to Woman campaign is here to do. Through fundraising and volunteer activations, we assemble and distribute hygiene kits packed with the tools our neighbors need to thrive. Each kit includes two months’ worth of pads, tampons, diapers, panty liners, deodorant, and soap, which equals a total savings of $100.
Everyone deserves the right to a safe, healthy, and comfortable period. Woman to Woman is working to make that a reality for the New Yorkers we proudly serve.
The Need
According to the most recent census data, an estimated 18.7 percent (or more than 800,000) women in New York City are considered living below the federal poverty line. This rate is nearly 19 percent higher than the rate for men in New York City and 8 percent higher than the city’s overall poverty rate. Additionally:
Over half (57%) of all emergency food program participants in New York City are women.
Prior to the pandemic, nearly 1 in 5 women in New York City were already living below the federal poverty line.
New York City’s median income for single mothers is 37 percent lower than New York City’s median income for single fathers.
Sources: Food Bank For New York City’s Hunger & Poverty Facts Among Women 2022; Women’s Center for Education and Career Advancement. Overlooked and Undercounted 2021; 2019 American Community Survey. U.S. Census Bureau, 2020.
The Kit
The need for programming and resources targeted to women and girls facing poverty in New York City is incredibly high. We help to fill in the gaps for our neighbors by assembling and distributing hygiene kits to our network of over 800 food pantries, soup kitchens, campus partners, shelters, and hospitals across the five boroughs.
Support for this campaign allows us to procure the items needed for these kits, which include all or some of the following:
- One pad pack
- One tampon pack
- One diaper pack
- One panty liner pack
- One deodorant
- One soap
These kits are built to last for 1-2 months and save our neighbors an average of $90-100 a month.
Getting Involved
DONATE
Help us raise funds to assemble and distribute thousands of hygiene kits.
ADVOCATE
Join Food Bank’s Action Team to advocate for increased access to vital hygiene and period products.
VOLUNTEER
Pack kits at our Warehouse & Distribution Center in the Bronx and our Community Kitchen & Food Pantry in West Harlem.
“What I discovered through my direct work with clients on the ground was that many of the women Food Bank serves would forgo buying essentials like diapers and menstrual care products to help feed their families and keep the lights on. This was particularly true in female-led households with no spouse present, where the median income in New York City is 31% lower than a male-led household with no spouse present. It’s worth noting, too, that neither diapers nor menstrual care products can be purchased using SNAP benefits (formerly known as food stamps).”
– Food Bank Board Member Katie Lee