Help a Girl Out (HAGO) has announced a new distribution partnership for its 2025 collection. All donations from local collection sites should be delivered to Helping Harvest, 117 Morgan Drive, Reading, PA 19608 on Friday, March 7th, between 9 AM to 3 PM.
The Help a Girl Out grassroots effort focuses on providing essential feminine products and diapers to those in need. Period poverty—the lack of access to menstrual hygiene products and education—disproportionally affects lower-income families. According to the Alliance for Period Supplies, 1 in 7 women and girls between the ages of 12 and 44 in Pennsylvania live below the Federal Poverty Line.
Without access to these critical supplies, many women struggle to attend work, and 1 in 4 teens in the U.S. has missed class due to a lack of period products. In extreme cases, individuals resort to using unsafe alternatives such as toilet paper, cardboard, or socks, which can lead to serious health risks.
Through HAGO the community can help provide women and girls in Berks and Schuylkill Counties with period products so they may participate in everyday activities with dignity. In partnership with Helping Harvest and Co-County Wellness Services, HAGO now has a wider impact, reaching two counties for the first time. Through these nonprofit partners, the HAGO project will expand to include Berks and Schuylkill Counties, offering products to public schools and organizations serving those in need.
A drop-off site and dedicated staging area within Helping Harvest’s warehouse will allow for project coordinators to conduct the necessary sorting, counting, and organizing prior to distribution.
“At Helping Harvest, we are committed to meeting the essential needs of our community, and we recognize that access to feminine hygiene products is a critical yet often overlooked necessity. We are proud to partner with the Help A Girl Out initiative by providing our warehouse space for the collection and distribution of these products. Together, with our community partners, we can ensure that individuals in need have the dignity and support they deserve,” said Jay Worrall, President of Helping Harvest Fresh Food Bank.
“We look forward to the drop off event on Friday, March 7. Anyone who wishes to drop off items will do so at our Agency Pick Up/Drop off area, which is marked by two garage doors and a red awning which you will see when you pull in our parking lot. Staff and volunteers will be available to assist.”
Since its inception in 2021, HAGO organizers have been approached each year about the local problem of scarcity of product in public schools. Teachers, social workers, and administrators have reported the need to self-subsidize within the classrooms, and that coupled with stigma, — menstruators in our local educational institutions are indeed suffering. Until now, HAGO could only assist with this issue on a small scale.
Enter Co-County Wellness Services, a new partner who is stepping in to help distribute HAGO products in schools via the Berks County Intermediate Unit (BCIU). Co-County Wellness Services will design and implement an order form to distribute to schools, which they can use to
request products from the HAGO 2025 stock. The organization’s youth initiative, Berks Teens,
will assist in the counting and processing of donations received.
“To be part of this year’s Help A Girl Out campaign is an opportunity to make a real difference for a real problem that we face in our community. In our work with youth, we know firsthand the struggle of menstrual inequity and the negative impact it has on Teens. This grassroots effort is so important in creating awareness and a network of support,” said Carolyn Bazik, Executive Director of Co-County Wellness Services.
Additionally, local organizations who currently receive food and other items from Helping Harvest will be able to add period products to their orders, while supplies last.
Donation boxes are already in place throughout the county, and the Help A Girl Out team invites members of the public to drop off products between now and the first week of March.
In 2025, the HAGO project has nearly doubled its drop-off collection location sites throughout the region, making it even easier for supporters to donate feminine products and diapers.
For those who would like to drop ship products directly to Helping Harvest c/o HAGO, an Amazon Wish List is available online.
For more information and local drop off sites visit: mg-architects.com/events/hago-berks-2025.
