HHS Feminism Club Fundraises and Distributes Feminine Hygiene Products

The HHS Feminism Club debuted towards the beginning of this past fall semester, and already has made great contributions to the school, particularly in HHS bathrooms.

The club, founded by freshmen Emily Nadeau, Melissa Whitmore, and Lily Versteeg, held its first meeting in room 233 on a Tuesday in October of 2018 and has continued to run each Tuesday activity period. It is comprised of roughly eight members.

Founder Emily Nadeau claims the club’s “mission statement is no matter what race, gender, sexuality, religion, gender identification, skin color, or cultural background every human being deserves equal respect, love, kindness, and support. The goal of the HHS Feminism Club is to widen this movement, raise awareness, and empower others.” Nadeau asserts that the club plans on “addressing issues as they come at HHS.” The group has attempted to fulfill these promises through a number of fundraising activities, including the Bake Sale held April 3rd through 5th.

Nadeau accredits junior Giavanni Minshall with the idea for the sale, which was highly successful. The sale’s premise was to trade feminine hygiene products (pads, tampons, etc.) for free baked goods. Members of the club exchanged sweet treats for just about 100 pads and tampons, which they later distributed throughout the women’s bathrooms at HHS.

The hygiene products are located in little plastic containers above the tampon dispensers, the latter of which provide students with a tampon in exchange for a quarter. The only issue with these new bins is that they are often empty, as the demand for the products is great.

Directly after the drive, each bin had about 20-30 tampons and pads, but now nearly all of them are gone, leaving students wondering if they will be filled again.

Fortunately, Nadeau says that the group plans to hold another bake sale similar to this one in May. If the turn out is as successful as this past drive, the club should be able to restock many of the bathroom bins.

The Feminism Club hasn’t stopped there, though: they have continued to plan for sales and raise awareness at HHS – Nadeau notes, “be sure to check out our latest project, the Presidential Election slide show in the atrium!”