Wolfson Campus SGA President Starts Project To Help With Period Poverty

Isabella Cunningham was exposed to the reality of period poverty at an early age. 

When she was 12 years old, her mother sent boxes filled with pads and tampons to family members in Colombia who sorely needed the items. 

“It quickly caught my attention,” said Cunningham, a second-year political science student who serves as the Wolfson Campus Student Government Association president. “I didn’t understand the need to send them and thought ‘couldn’t everyone afford them?’”

After learning that 500 million women and girls globally lack access to period products, she was inspired to help.

This past summer, Cunningham started hosting monthly period product drives at Wolfson Campus with Planned Parenthood—a nonprofit that provides sexual health care—to collect pads, tampons and menstrual cups.

Since then she has collected more than 600 period products through her Breaking the Cycle initiative. This fall, some of the items were donated to the Wolfson Campus Shark Pantry. Five hundred of the period products will be donated in April to PERIOD Miami and Casa Valentina.

Another batch of the items was placed in storage bins and sent to all eight student life departments across Miami Dade College so students can have access to them for free.

“I’m truly honored to be mentoring Isabella with this project,” said Annie Sosa, the Wolfson Campus SGA advisor. “Not only because of the impact it’s having and its harnessed potential, but also the opportunity to witness Isabella’s incredible passion and commitment to making a long-lasting change in her community.”

Cunningham and the Wolfson Campus SGA senators are working toward adding free pads, tampons and menstrual cups in restroom dispensers on campus. 

Their next period product drive is scheduled to take place on April 15 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. outside of building 2 at Wolfson Campus.

Ultimately, Cunningham hopes to spread knowledge about the issue. On March 23, she presented at a leadership summit at the Eduardo J. Padrón Campus, talking about her efforts to address period poverty.

“I hope students feel empowered to choose a project they are passionate about to help those in their community,” Cunningham said. 

To help with Cunningham’s initiative, donations can be dropped off in Room 2102 at Wolfson Campus.