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Valerie Mora

With the Her Drive Downey donation event taking place Jan. 15 to Feb. 13, Saira Alam, 10, explains why she chose to host this donation drive. “Feminine hygiene products are scarcely donated, and with the rise of COVID-19, they are just now close to never donated,” Alam stated. “I just wanted to pitch in in any way I can.”

While there has been growth in supplying women in need with the necessities they need throughout the years, many women are still struggling because they don’t have certain products available to them. Many nonprofits and foundations like Her Drive are focused on giving back to communities where there is a large population of women in need, and some even offer people to host their own drives to get their communities involved.  

Her Drive is a non-profit organization based in Chicago that collects feminine products and clothing items for women in need, specifically BIPOC, or Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities. Co-Founder Jenica Baron shares where the inspiration for Her Drive came from.

“We knew there are far too many women who don’t have feminine products available to them,” Baron said.  “Founding Her Drive was our way of helping communities who are dealing with this public health issue.”

Layla Afify and Saira Alam, 10, know that Downey is filled with caring people who love to give back. Her Drive allows them to get the Downey community involved by hosting their own drive. Saira Alam shares why they chose Her Drive. 

“We chose to partner with Her Drive because they already have an extensive list of past drives that ran smoothly,” Alam said. “The co-founders of the organization are super sweet and make the process extremely easy.”

Other students at Downey expressed their thoughts on the drive through positive messages and being involved. Valerie Carlos, 10, is among many of the students who believe in this cause.

“I believe that the drive is an amazing idea,” Carlos said. “Because the number of women who don’t have access to necessities is increasing rapidly.”

Since being founded in June 2020, Her Drive has already collected over 17,000 menstrual care products for women, and their numbers are only growing. They have platforms on Instagram and TikTok for information about why it’s important to help women in need and a Venmo set up for donations, under the handle @her.drive. More information about them can be found at herdrive.org. Donating will keep bringing awareness to their cause and support to the women they help.