You are reading

Queens Officials Demand City To Provide Free Feminine Hygiene Products at Meal Hubs

(QueensPost)

April 15, 2020 By Christian Murray

New York City has set up meal hubs at schools across the five boroughs and now several Queens legislators are calling for free feminine products to be available at these locations too.

Assemblywomen Cathy Nolan and Aravella Simotas—along with Congresswomen Carolyn Maloney and Grace Meng—are calling on the Department of Education to provide free feminine hygiene products at the approximately 400 school locations where free meals are being distributed on weekdays from 7:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

The legislators have joined forces with Femstrate, a group formed by students at the Young Women’s Leadership School of Astoria, who are calling on the DOE to make free menstruation products available. The group note that the DOE has already purchased these products and they are currently sitting in supply closets at city schools.

“Our mission is to bring menstrual equality to every school in New York City and beyond,” Femstrate said in a release. “New York City can easily fulfill this promise … by providing period products to those in need.”

Simotas said that it is important that all women can get period products at this time.

“Period poverty affects so many New Yorkers and the ongoing COVID-19 crisis has left many people without incomes, exacerbating the problem,” Simotas said. “Using supplies the city already has and redistributing them to those who need them most is a feasible action that will bring relief to many people who menstruate.”

Nolan said that it was important that access to these products remains available to students and adults during the crisis.

“The need for these supplies does not stop, even when the City has to.”

The founders of Femstrate has set up a GoFundMe page to help sponsor their initiative.

email the author: news@queenspost.com
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Ridgewood mother and daughter arrested for attacking woman over parking spot: NYPD

A Ridgewood mother and daughter were arrested Monday after they ambushed a young Black woman who tried to park her car in a spot in front of their apartment building that they frequently cordon off with garbage cans and traffic cones.

A family friend was standing at the northeast corner of Onderdonk Avenue and Putnam Avenue at around 7:30 p.m. when the 21-year-old Jada McPherson tried to park her car in the spot. The man placed a garbage can in her way. She drove off and circled the block multiple times. She tried to pull into the same spot one more time, but the man tried to stop her again. McPherson got out of her car to confront him, and an argument ensued.

Man in his 50s sought for exposing himself to 13-year-old on E train in Forest Hills: NYPD

Police from the 112th Precinct in Forest Hills and Transit District 20 are looking for a suspect who allegedly flashed a 13-year-old girl on a Queens subway train last month.

The victim was riding a southbound E train approaching the Kew Gardens-Union Turnpike station at around 1 p.m. on Monday, June 30, when she saw a stranger exposing himself to her, police said Wednesday. The perpetrator ran off the train at the Kew Gardens-Union Turnpike station and fled in an unknown direction. The youngster was not injured during her encounter with the stranger.