Hello! We are Melissa and Andrea from Menstrual Flux. We are ecstatic to provide a more sustainable menstrual product option to those in need, thanks to The June Cup’s donation of 50 menstrual cups.
We are a small mom-and-pop nonprofit that was founded in Houston, Texas in 2017. Our founder, Melissa (aka “Tampon Fairy”), was inspired to start Menstrual Flux based on her own personal story of facing period poverty while dealing with housing instability. Melissa’s experiences led her to fight period poverty by providing menstrual products to menstruators in need.
Melissa and Andrea met in 2019 when Andrea reached out to Menstrual Flux to become a sponsor for the National Period Day Rally in Austin, Texas. Andrea became more involved this year and is now our Advocacy and Outreach Operations Director. Andrea manages our social media accounts, forming advocacy activities, and forming partnerships for the nonprofit.
One of these partnerships is with The June Cup. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Menstrual Flux has had to adapt its donation approach to a safer format. But thanks to our consistent donors and partnerships, we are still able to provide period care kits to those who fill out our Google Form.
Our period care kits contain an average cycle’s supply of pads and tampons. We have been mailing the period care kits and assembling them while wearing gloves and a mask. We have been able to expand our outreach to outside of Houston and have even sent kits via mail to those outside of Texas.
Sustainable options were the only thing missing from our period care kits – until now. If the menstruator asks for a menstrual cup, we provide the cup in the period care kit along with the other supplies. We are aware that it may take time to adapt to a menstrual cup, so we still include pads and tampons in the kit.
Since we added the menstrual cup option to our Google Form, 76.2% respondents said they wanted the cup included in their kit. And 87.5% of the respondents who asked for a menstrual cup said they are menstrual cup newbies.
Here are some of the comments we are have received ever since The June Cup has donated menstrual cups to Menstrual Flux:
- “I was looking into purchasing a menstrual cup but am furloughed from work due to the pandemic. This would really help out. What you are doing is amazing and greatly appreciated.”
- “Thank you so much for this opportunity. I have never had access to a menstrual cup before due to the price point and the fact that most are sold online. If we get the hang of this we may never have to worry about menstrual products again.”
- “Lost my job due to COVID and have no income. Thank you for providing these services!”
- “These period care kits are amazing. I couldn’t find my brand of tampons anywhere and I’m so excited to use the June Cup.”
We are so thankful to The June Cup for allowing us to expand our work in fighting period poverty one cycle at a time, and for providing menstruators a more sustainable option to address their menstrual needs.
(Left – Andrea, Right – Melissa)
If you would like to keep up with our journey, please follow us at @menstrualflux for Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. We also accept monetary donations via PayPal and Venmo.