On Friday, Sept. 30, the Flow Forward club– formerly known as Project Period– had its first meeting of the semester to plan and discuss its agenda for the next year.
The meeting, which was held both in person and over Discord, was led by co-founder and president of the Flow Forward club Logan Johnson, who served as both an introduction to the cause for those who had not yet attended meetings in previous semesters, as well as an outlining session for what was to come for the group.
“Our initiative is to advocate for improved access to menstrual products on our campus and to destigmatize periods in general,” said Johnson, a senior and biology major here at Rowan. “A big event we’re undertaking at this moment is, we’re holding a product drive in collaboration with SGA. These products will be distributed to our student body in multiple different tabling events and monthly pack distributions.”
Johnson and former SGA Executive Vice President Sarah McClure founded the organization at the beginning of the 2022 spring semester. McClure used her ties in the Student Government to help facilitate the then-new movement on campus, which culminated in the group’s acquisition of 400 menstrual cups from their AllMatters’ CampusCup event at the end of that semester.
“We hope to hold similar events and more this academic year while also making headway in getting administration to recognize our movement and hopefully allocate university budgeting towards making period products more accessible on our campus,” Johnson said.
Flow Forward is looking to collect menstrual products, particularly those of sustainable or reusable nature, to donate to students in need, or those at risk of or suffering from period poverty. The group also plans to work in collaboration with the eco-friendly menstrual product company GladRags to get even more products to students in need. The group is looking for other clubs and organizations on campus to help with cosponsoring these drives and product distribution activities.
“I’m helping Flow Forward. I send out emails to companies to advocate for free menstrual products being sent to campus. Flow Forward also hosts tabling, that’s in the student center. I will be a part of that tabling on Oct. 7, 14, and Nov. 2,” sophomore Maria Hite said.
These tabling events will aim to both distribute the needed products, as well as inform the student body on the topics of menstrual cycles, products, and equity. There were discussions of one such tabling event at the upcoming Sex Toy Bingo, though nothing had yet been finalized.
The founders of the group have aspirations of eventually developing the group into a nonprofit.
More information and updates about Flow Forward can be found on their Instagram page, @flowforward_nj.
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