The university has partnered with The SPOT Period by No More Secrets—the country’s first menstrual hub and uterine wellness center—to make period products accessible to the campus community.
Temple’s Barnett Irvine Cherry Pantry has partnered with the SPOT Period by No More Secrets to open a SPOT satellite location to combat period poverty.
Photo by Betsy Manning
Across the globe, about 1.8 billion people get their periods every month. Many of these individuals lack access to menstrual products and education. According to a State of the Period 2025 study from Thinx and PERIOD, in the U.S. alone, nearly 1 in 4 teenagers and 1 in 3 adults struggle to afford period products, especially teenagers of color and lower-income households.
To combat period poverty—inadequate access to menstrual hygiene products, facilities and information—Temple’s Barnett Irvine Cherry Pantry has partnered with The SPOT Period by No More Secrets to open a SPOT Period Satellite Menstrual Hub on campus that makes period products accessible to the university community.
The grand opening celebration for the menstrual hub took place on Jan. 21 at the Christopher and Julie Barnett Essential Needs Hub in the lower level of the Howard Gittis Student Center. The menstrual products are now available for students at the Barnett Irvine Cherry Pantry, which is part of this hub.
“The Christopher and Julie Barnett Essential Needs Hub exists to provide comprehensive, coordinated support for students facing food insecurity, financial barriers and other challenges that impact their success,” said Deanne DeCrescenzo, assistant vice president of student advocacy and engagement. “Partnering with an innovative organization like the SPOT Period aligns naturally with this mission, allowing us to expand access to essential resources like menstrual products and help ensure basic needs insecurity is never a barrier to student success.”
As the country’s first menstrual hub and uterine wellness center, The SPOT Period by No More Secrets intentionally addresses marginalized communities who have historically faced health disparities by providing menstrual hygiene resources and information as well as acceptance and understanding. It first established SPOT satellite locations at historically Black colleges and universities such as Cheyney University, Delaware State University and Morgan University and has since expanded to other higher education institutions.
“This collaboration is a powerful example of how community care and campus leadership can come together to create meaningful, lasting impact,” said Lynette Medley, founder and CEO of No More Secrets. “The SPOT Period Satellite Menstrual Hub at Temple University, in partnership with the Barnett Irvine Cherry Pantry, strengthens our shared commitment to menstrual equity and holistic student wellness and serves as a model that other institutions can replicate on their campuses.”
Gopiga Dass, Class of 2026, helped facilitate the opening of the SPOT Period Satellite Menstrual Hub on campus. She became familiar with the organization after interning at the SPOT Period location in the Germantown section of Philadelphia during the summer before her sophomore year at Temple.
“This period-friendly space at Temple is a great opportunity to get people the products they need and slowly chip away at the stigma surrounding periods,” said Dass, who’s president of PERIOD. @ Temple, a student organization committed to eradicating period poverty through menstrual hygiene service, education and advocacy.
Through her own research on the menstrual experience of Temple students, Dass found that 17% of students reported feeling worried about how they’d get more period products and 1 in 5 students reported never having enough. Ultimately, she estimated 17–20% of students on campus experience period poverty.
Dass explained that this lack of access to menstrual products has devastating consequences such as an increased risk of anxiety and depression as well as infection due to using improper objects in place of period products or the same period product longer than recommended.
“The effects of period poverty are felt by the entire community,” said Dass, a biology major from Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania. “If individuals don’t have menstrual hygiene products, they can’t go to work or school and they can’t take care of themselves and their families.”
So far, The SPOT Period has donated about 31,000 pads from August, a sustainable brand offering organic cotton, to the Barnett Irvine Cherry Pantry. These products are available in full, unopened packages.
While there are also menstrual hygiene product dispensers on campus, Dass emphasizes the importance of providing boxes rather than solely loose period products. “I learned through SPOT that giving out loose products can be ineffective in addressing period poverty because some women feel that they’re not given the right to choose their own products and that they’re only worth a few pads or tampons as opposed to a whole box,” she said. “Often, important health information is included on the package as well.”
This partnership with The SPOT Period solidifies a dedicated safe space where the Temple community can pick up menstrual products at any time.
“I want our campus to be a place where no student has to worry about getting period products so that students can prioritize their education, which is what they’re here for,” said Dass.
