{"id":3443,"date":"2022-05-02T16:15:59","date_gmt":"2022-05-02T23:15:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/?p=3443"},"modified":"2026-08-30T21:57:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T04:57:11","slug":"project-marilyn-a-mission-with-dignity-period","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/project-marilyn-a-mission-with-dignity-period\/","title":{"rendered":"Project Marilyn - A Mission with Dignity. Period"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Chic<\/span><\/div>
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This article was printed in<\/em>
\nChic Compass Magazine - Issue 11<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

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\"Wendi<\/span><\/div><\/div>

Wendi Schweigart<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Project Marilyn - A Mission with Dignity. Period<\/h1>\n

BY STACEY GUALANDI<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Menstruation has gone mainstream. TV and film tackling the once-taboo subject of a woman\u2019s period are now on-trend.<\/p>\n

Pixar\u2019s new movie \u201cTurning Red\u201d (about a girl who turns into a red panda) and episodes of \u201cAnd Just Like That,\u201d \u201cPen15,\u201d and \u201cI May Destroy You\u201d are just a few examples of Tinseltown going with the flow and including positive period plotlines.<\/p>\n

But while Hollywood continues to ride this crimson wave, the reality for many women in our country is a serious lack of access to proper hygiene products and facilities, especially if they are home insecure or truly houseless.<\/p>\n

Wendi Schweigart wants to end this often-overlooked cycle of \u201cperiod poverty.\u201d Period.<\/p>\n

She founded the Las Vegas-based Project Marilyn, a non-profit that provides people who menstruate with sufficient period supplies who otherwise can\u2019t afford them.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur mission is not only a healthy period but a dignified period,\u201d says Wendi. \u201cWe want you to hold your head high, but how can you do that with fast food napkins in your underwear?\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2018, the Alliance for Period Supplies said, \u201d1 in 4 women couldn\u2019t afford period products in a given year due to lack of income.\u201d Now, it\u2019s 2 in 5\u2014a serious Code Red.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Photo of Wendi Schweigart's mother Marilyn<\/p>\n<\/div>

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\u201cYou also can\u2019t use any sort of federal funding for period supplies, toilet paper, diapers, any of those things,\u201d adds Wendi. \u201cSo instead of a handout, some people just need a hand-up; they just need a little bit of help this month. As women, we put ourselves last, and if you have your last $10, you\u2019re going to buy milk for your kids, not tampons.\u201d<\/p>\n

This former hospital candy-striper knows a thing or two about giving a helping hand (\u201cI\u2019ve always loved to volunteer!\u201d). But she only learned about \u201cthe homeless period\u201d three years ago in People Magazine.<\/p>\n

Her entrepreneurial husband Nathan, who owns NDL Group construction company, asked, \u201cWhy not start a non-profit of your own?\u201d So, in 2019, she selflessly launched \u201cProject Marilyn\u201d in honor of her mother, who died of breast cancer in 2011\u2014the same year Wendi gave birth to her son.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarilyn was fabulous. I mean, she was the one who really encouraged and drove me to Valley Hospital to volunteer,\u201d says Wendi. \u201cMy mom was really about giving people dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n

But throughout her life, Wendi says her mom rarely received the respect she deserved.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe just really pulled herself up by her bootstraps. To me, she was the original boss babe before that was a thing,\u201d says Wendi. \u201cI know she passed away with a lot of regrets; she had a life of obligation instead of a life of inspiration, so I just wanted to do something that keeps her memory alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

That included using Marilyn\u2019s photo and driver\u2019s license signature\u2014and a little eyelash\u2014for the charity\u2019s logo.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe wore false eyelashes and nude lipsticks. Sometimes my family would say, \u2018I don\u2019t know if she would like her face on a bag of tampons,\u2019 and I said, \u2018Well, it\u2019s really on a bag of dignity.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Project Marilyn packages two kinds of bags: black (with tampons) and pink (without), and each contains enough pads, panty liners, and hygiene wipes for an entire menstrual cycle. The goal is never to cramp anyone\u2019s style.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t care if you\u2019re a prostitute; a stripper; a drug addict; gay, straight, Republican; Democrat. Wherever you fall, a person\u2019s period is coming, and we want to help with that,\u201d says Wendi. \u201cThere are so many wonderful organizations helping with the rest; we just want you not to bleed on your pants.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Wendi, Project Marilyn has been a blessing, not a curse. In just three short years, she has formed a \u201cperiod posse\u201d with other community partners like Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth and The Just One Project to help distribute period kits.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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\"Period Posse\" at a \"Pop Up and Give Mobile Market\" at Cortney Middle School<\/p>\n<\/div>

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\u201cWe go out with The Just One Project\u2019s \u201cPop Up & Give Mobile Markets,\u201d says Wendi. \u201cBrooke Neubauer and her whole team have been fabulous in taking us in because we really have to go where the people already are.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is also a \u201cFinding Marilyn\u201d tab on the website to locate the agencies that distribute packages discretely. Currently, there are four, including the Foundation for Recovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou walk in, and you say, \u2018I\u2019m here for the package Marilyn left me,\u2019 and they will give you a bag,\u201d says Wendi. \u201cWhat surprises me most are the people I know who come to me and say, \u2018You don\u2019t know this, but I was a homeless teen, and I had to steal pads from the Dollar Store. If I had had access to one of your bags, it would\u2019ve made my life so much better.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year alone, Project Marilyn donated 15 thousand kits and over 370 thousand pads, and in March, Wendi teamed up with non-profit Baby\u2019s Bounty to expand overseas. Together, they shipped thousands of feminine products to Ukrainian refugees in Poland, just another opportunity she says to do her part.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are small, but we want to do what we can and show the people of Ukraine what a big heart Las Vegas has,\u201d said Wendi to KLAS.<\/p>\n

This mission to end period poverty hasn\u2019t gone unnoticed. Wendi has received numerous awards, including the \u201cBest of Las Vegas\u201d Bronze winner for Best Non-profit; the Young Professional Leadership Award from the Women\u2019s Chamber of Commerce Hall of Fame; and on May 9th, it was her time of the month at \u201cMonday\u2019s Dark,\u201d a bi-monthly variety\/fundraiser show benefitting various local charities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI picked that date because May 8th is Mother\u2019s Day.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a matter of 90 minutes, they raised $10,000 for Project Marilyn!
\n\"Vegas is just an outstanding community of people who want to keep improving the community around us,\" she says.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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\"Wendi<\/span><\/div><\/div>

Wendi received the Soroptimist Ruby Award for Women helping Women; presented by Punam Mathur.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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As Wendi looks to the future, she dreams of someday opening a \u201cperiod pantry\u201d and converting a food truck into a \u201cTampon Taxi,\u201d but without any paid staff members, her mood swings between expanding her empire or sticking with the status quo.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to help as many people as we can without sacrificing our integrity, our quality, and our reputation, and if that means we have to stay small, then that\u2019s what we\u2019ll do.\u201d<\/p>\n

While she admits this labor of love is amazing and rewarding yet frustrating and exhausting, Wendi will keep plugging away because, as she says, menstruation matters. Marilyn would be very proud.<\/p>\n

\u201cI miss her so much, but I feel like she\u2019s watching us,\u201d says Wendi. \u201cI just want her to know that her life meant something, and I was inspired to do something for the greater good because of her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Period Poverty Awareness Week is celebrated annually every May.<\/p>\n

To donate and spread the word, go to: projectmarilyn.com<\/a>,<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Menstruation has gone mainstream. TV and film tackling the once-taboo subject of a woman\u2019s period are now on-trend. Project Marilyn wants to end this often-overlooked cycle of \u201cperiod poverty.\u201d Period.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3444,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4522,3681],"tags":[3158,3711,3710,3128,3712],"class_list":["post-3443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-and-culture","category-issue-11","tag-charity","tag-menstruation","tag-project-marilyn","tag-stacey-gualandi","tag-wendi-schweigart"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3443"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10769,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3443\/revisions\/10769"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}