Dignity Matters featured on WCVB Channel 5 News

Dignity Matters’ Founder and Executive Director Kate Sanetra-Butler was recently featured on WCVB Channel 5’s “5 for Good.”

Reporter Erika Tarantal spent a morning with Dignity Matters staff and volunteers at our warehouse in Framingham as we packed 550,000 menstrual care items and undergarments for distribution to women and girls next month.

Kate described how, soon after moving to the Boston area from oversees, she was approached by a young woman in Copley Square.

“She was in distress and in need of help,” she said. “She asked me if I had a spare tampon, and I remember thinking, this is strange.” Just days later, Kate stumbled upon a radio program highlighting the fact that food stamps don’t cover menstrual care – and she realized “period poverty” was all too common.

Kate reached out to friends and family and started a collection of menstrual items in her garage. Soon after, she founded Dignity Matters.

“And now we distribute 3,000,000 products to women and girls every year through 170 nonprofit partners,” Kate said.

Dignity Matters provides free menstrual care to 15,000 women each month through a network of shelters, food pantries, schools, and medical clinics across Massachusetts.

WCVB highlighted our work with A Place to Turn Food Pantry in Natick, where staff have seen a 63% increase in families seeking help since the start of the pandemic 3 years ago. Several of our other partners – including Willis House, Plymouth Area Coalition for the Homeless, REACH Beyond Domestic Violence, and Women’s Lunch Place – were featured as well.

Every item Dignity Matters distributes is donated by our community or purchased at wholesale prices using your generous financial contributions. Thank you to WCVB for highlighting our fight against period poverty, and for encouraging viewers to donate money and products in support of our work.