Why We’re Here
The We Gotchya Crew began with a small group of women in Maryville, Missouri, who wanted to make the world — or at least the Maryville part of it — a better place.
Focusing on the needs of female students was obvious given that Maryville is a university town, home of Northwest Missouri State University. Being women, we see things men don’t, and that’s how we decided to focus on ensuring that young women don’t miss school or classes when they’re menstruating. We all know first hand that those relic tampon machines in some ladies rooms stopped dispensing product years ago. And even if they were operable, we know students don’t carry nickles, dimes and quarters.
We also know that many in our community simply cannot afford feminine products — they can be costly. Even the $7 package of 36 tampons can be too much for students on our campus and women in our community.
We decided a simple feminine product support system was in order: We’ll supply baskets in key ladies rooms and stock them with pads and tampons, and ask that women drop an extra or two in the basket when they have them.
Take one when you need it, leave one when you can. Simple.
Ideally, these products would be supplied naturally, the way toilet paper is supplied. Why not? Scotland is doing it — by law in Scotland, all schools, colleges and universities provide free sanitary products, “in a sensitive and dignified way.” Even here at home, Illinois, California, New York, Wisconsin each have laws in place requiring schools to provide free feminine products.
After our first 2 semesters of basket monitoring, we realize that the hidden problem of not having a tampon when you need one is one that’s easily solved. But keeping the system in place, growing it, keeping baskets stocked, it takes a bit of time and money.
If you’re wondering about our Haiti project, well, that all started because friends of ours — Bayo Joachim and Mike Bellamy — run a school/orphanage in Haiti. We knew that these girls needed period supplies, too, so we did a little research and quickly learned that reusable cotton pads are the best menstrual management solution. We purchased dozens of pads and liners, and then we gathered a group of people in the community who sew, and now we make hundreds of reusable pads from donated sheets and bed liners.
So, if you’re still reading this, you must be interested! Want to join us? Please send us a message and tell us how you’d like to help. We can always use more helping hands — male, female, or other!
Fundraising
Thanks to the kind support of Maryville’s Hy-Vee, we host a “That Time of the Month” on occassional Wednesdays, 5-8 p.m. Hy-Vee gives us a percentage of grill area proceeds during that time.
Proceeds from products in our shop go toward supplying feminine products in our area. We earn royalties and/or commission from Zazzle products and as an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
In the News
See all of our news coverage on our “In the News” page.
Promo Video
Here’s the video we play when we’re out and about:
We Gotchya! 