Press

Feminine hygiene products.
Apple Valley News now’s William Albert spoke with officials at the Healing Hands Project who say their mission is to make sure no woman goes without the Essentials. The Healing Hands Project is a nonprofit based in Kennewick with a simple mission to provide women in need with free feminine hygiene products. The organization, which was originally founded in King County by Dr. Rachel Fidino, says she started it after seeing how many homeless women in Seattle struggled to get basic hygiene supplies.
So I spent a couple of years interviewing homeless women at encampments, and we would take a cameraman all over to places, tent cities in Seattle, and just asking them, what do you do, um, when you are on your period? And they would just makeshift something. And the stuff that they were telling me they were using, I was like, this is just horrible. That experience inspired Dr. Fidino to create hygiene kits filled with essentials, along with educational materials about menstrual health.
A Lot of women we found didn’t have any GYN education as far as like what do they do when they’re on their period, um, as well as underwear. ’cause a lot of these women were like, underwear’s. Just, it’s, it’s not, it’s a luxury for them when they’re homeless. And so we provide them underwear and, different, absorbency for tampons or pads. Ibuprofen.
The Healing Hands Project has sent feminine hygiene kits overseas to help women affected by the war in Ukraine and across the US including communities in the Bronx. But Dr. Fidino says their top priority remains helping women. Right here at home.
We see somebody that is on the street that’s in need. Like, we’ll just go up to ’em and say, you know, like, what can we do to help you?
The organization also serves women who aren’t homeless, but maybe going through a tough time, helping them avoid the impossible choice between buying food or buying hygiene products.
I’m gonna buy tampons or I’m gonna buy food for dinner. Right? So sometimes you have to make that decision. And so for us, if we can eliminate that, because women can’t control when they get their period, it would be great if it was predictable and monthly and we knew when it was coming, but it’s not.
The organization even lobbied for legislation to remove the tampon tax. Emphasizing that these products are not a luxury.
But for women, unfortunately, tampons and pads has been looked at as a luxury good. And so I think it’s more at a national level, eliminating tax of those products and trying to allow them to have more access.
The Healing Hands Project continues its mission to make sure every woman has the essentials that she needs in Kennewick, William Albert Apple Valley News. Now
The Healing Hands Project also helps homeless teens find housing, transportation, and food. For more information, you can go to our website, applevalleynewsnow.com.