COLUMBIA, S.C. — Saturday night, over a dozen girls and women had a party for a good cause at the Katheryn M. Bellfield Booker Washington Heights Cultural Arts Center.
It was all in the name of combating period poverty and menstrual hygiene education. The non-profit called Revolution Red gives out items for women and girls in need across the Midlands.
At their pajama party, the girls had a safe space to learn connect, and do a little dancing too.
"They're able to come out, have a great time and we made our junk socks because the theme is socks are not pads. Right?," said Shay Turman, founder of Revolution Red. "A lot of women and girls have the unfortunate situation of having to use materials besides pads and it's not safe. They're open for diseases like toxic shock syndrome and that's all about education here. We're having a good time, but we're learning too."
Turman said they got the word out through social media and are hoping to host events like this one on a quarterly basis. She said they give period products to local shelters and host packing party events too.
A parent of one of the girls at the sleepover, Brittney Brooks, said joining this initiative was important to her.
"There is no law actually that requires schools to have period products for their girls and I had no idea the need locally, so I thought it was real important for me and my family to join forces with Revolution Red because there might be some girls in schools who don’t have access to it," Brooks said.
If you'd like to learn more about their quarterly events, fundraisers and volunteering, click here.