Period products, diapers, baby formula or food?
“There are women making really tough choices right now.”
ATLANTA, Ga. (CBS46) - Because of inflation and economic issues some low-income women in Georgia are struggling to afford basic necessities like baby formula, diapers, and even pads and tampons for themselves. A nonprofit is working to give women some of their dignity back.
”1 in 4 girls have had to miss a week of school or work because they don’t have access to period products and there is no public assistance programs that allow for the purchase of these items, they also are taxed and it is very expensive,” said Jamie Lackey, CEO and Founder of Helping Mamas. ”I have been a social worker for 20 years and I have never seen the need rise like it has risen through COVID.”
Many Georgia women cannot afford or easily access these basic necessities right now due to inflation, supply chain shortages, not to mention the financial and social issues many people were facing before the pandemic began.
”What is overwhelming for me as a woman, as a mom is that all of these shortages feel like they are directed at families and at moms and women and we just can’t get ahead,” said Lackey.
Helping Mamas is trying to fill in the gap.
”Access to basic needs matters,” said Lackey.
Donations are crucial. Especially formula donations, which are hard to come by and highly needed.
”Our goal is to help transform our community one member at a time,” said Laquanda Brooks with Peach State Health Plan.
Peach State Health Plan has been donating the formula they can get their hands on to organizations like Helping Mamas. The donations go out to families, almost as quickly as they come in.
”It is more than the actual can that is going out, there are companies, there are communities and there are people, who care,” said Lackey.
There are Georgia women making incredibly hard decisions right now between which basic necessities they can afford or access, and which ones they will have to find a way to do without.
”When you talk about women in low-income communities, women we are serving, when you can’t access basic needs you can’t do other things. That is why we started,” said Lackey, “We want girls to be able to stay in school. We want women to be able to have a voice at the table.”
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