BUCHANAN — A team of volunteers is leading a donation drive which will culminate in a community event that they hope will help break stigmas around menstruation while providing menstruation-related products to those who need them.

Buchanan resident Megan Goodrich, along with co-leaders Madeline and Doris Higgins, are hosting One Month at a Time. For the past few weeks, the team has been picking up menstruation products placed in donation boxes around the city.

These products will be given to needing individuals at a community event from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 22 at the Buchanan Art Center at 117 W. Front St. Remaining donations will be given to Redbud Area Ministries, a local pantry.

Goodrich hopes the event serves as a way to both make menstruation products accessible while also educating attendees about issues like period poverty — the inability to consistently purchase menstrual products.

“I’m trying to do a couple of things to make sure those who are in need of [these products] most are getting access to it, but it’s also an education event,” she said. “I want to educate people on their bodies. I want to educate people about period poverty so that more people will do something about, even if it’s as small as taking donations to your local pantry.”

The event will include three educational sessions led by Audrey Carrier, a family medicine specialist at Southwestern Medical Clinic of Lakeland Health in Buchanan. Her presentations will be on cancers that heavily affect women; what’s normal and abnormal for a menstrual cycle; and endometriosis and polycystic ovarian syndrome, two painful disorders that affect the uterus and ovaries, respectively.

At least one raffle for a reusable menstrual item will also be hosted. Refreshments will be available to participants, as will interactive wall décor, Goodrich said.

The idea for the name “One Month at a Time” came from a friend of Goodrich’s, who said she liked the double-meaning of the title.

“I feel like that’s really fitting because [menstruation] happens one time a month and, financially, sometimes you have to take it week by week, month by month,” Goodrich said.

Doris came up with the event’s symbol, a red moon. It is meant to be a nod toward the belief that menstrual cycles line up with lunar cycles.

The One Month at a Time team has set up red cardboard donation boxes at multiple Buchanan locations: The Buchanan Arts Center, the Buchanan District Library, the Buchanan Senior Center, the high school, city hall, Gary Z’s, the Pit Stop and Union Coffee House and Café.

The donations Goodrich and the other volunteers are looking for go past typical menstruation products, like tampons, pads and cups. They’re also looking for items like underwear, ibuprofen and heating and cooling pads. The latter items are needed most, Goodrich said.

While the donations are asked to end, tentatively, on June 15, Goodrich said donations will be collected at One Month at a Time itself. She is also willing to work out a donation process if prospective donors reach out to her individually.

The donations and the event are meant to fight against and inform others about period poverty, which Goodrich said can stem from numerous issues. Luxury taxes on menstrual products, nicknamed “pink taxes,” are found in most states. Some health care plans do not cover menstrual products. No government assistance programs provide them. Places like pantries may not hold these items, either.

Each reality makes it difficult for those who menstruate to have reliable access to the products they need.

The donated products could be needed by a variety of people. Some could be homeless, some could be low-income and some could be inmates. Some LGBTQ+ youth may need the products, too, as they may not be in a safe environment to buy or request them.

Goodrich expected to see a lower turnout in places where the demographic is older, but the high school has received a lower donation turnout, too. She thinks it may be because teenage years are a time when people are uncomfortable in their changing bodies.

She said this is why talking about menstruation is important. Older generations may be more uncomfortable talking about menstruation because that was how they were raised, she said. Younger generations, once they grow past their teenage years, may be more open to speak.

“I hope to see some teenagers at the event, if nothing else, so they can be more comfortable and learn about their body because you don’t remember everything from sex ed, and sex ed doesn’t cover everything,” she said.

Putting on a menstrual event in a rural community has its importance, too.

“We’re right next to Galien and Three Oaks and Berrien [Center] – we’re a bunch of small towns,” Goodrich said. “I think it might take people time to warm up to what we’re doing and understand what we’re doing and accept it. Not everybody’s going to, which is fine, but I think that’s why we’re doing it, also, in a small town like this.”

Prospective donators can make monetary donations through the Michigan Community Gateway Foundation, Goodrich said. Last Friday, the local foundation partnered with the volunteer group, which is handling event funding.