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Shelley Aragoncillo gave birth to her child in March 2020, just as COVID-19 swept the world and Philadelphia commenced a monthslong shut down.
The hospital where she delivered her baby stocked her up with postpartum products, and Aragoncillo realized she had an “excess” of the birth recovery supplies. At the same time, she also noticed a demand for menstrual products as many people were financially struggling during the public health emergency.
“There were so many people online asking for pads and tampons and things like that,” Aragoncillo said. “So I just thought, if I can start a small shed and run it for as long as I can with my own funds, I’ll just use that as kind of an access point.”
Inspired by the community fridges and other mutual aid efforts springing up at the time, and informed by her decade-plus experience working in reproductive justice, Aragoncillo set up a shed in her neighborhood in South Philly. She began stocking it with postpartum products, pads, tampons and other menstrual supplies, and invited neighbors to contribute.
The community response, Aragoncillo said, was “incredible.”
“I had no idea people were so excited to speak about menstrual equity and postpartum care and things like that,” she said.
Aragoncillo stocks products at the original Grab n’ Flow shed in South Philadelphia. She says pads are among the most popular products at all three locations. (Emily Neil/WHYY)
The original community shed at South Franklin and Tasker streets is still the flagship for Grab n’ Flow, which now stocks two other locations at the Lucien E. Blackwell West Philadelphia Regional Library and the Walnut Street West Library. In addition to partnering with The Free Library of Philadelphia, Grab n’ Flow has also been supported by the city of Philadelphia and Penn Medicine.
Aragoncillo plans to use an ongoing fundraiser for Grab n’ Flow to expand its locations.
“I want to try to get more community members involved, to maybe host sheds outside of their homes,” she said. “And so the GoFundMe is to cover storage unit fees, because while we do get product donations, the monetary donations definitely help to cover the kind of administrative stuff.”
Pads fly off the shelves
The flagship South Philly shed still receives dozens of visits each day from people picking up supplies, as well as other community members donating menstrual and postpartum products.
That location is meant to serve the area’s majority-immigrant community. Information posted on the inside of the shed doors is written in both English and Spanish, and Aragoncillo plans to soon provide translations into other languages, including Cambodian and Mandarin.
Pads go the fastest, and are more popular than tampons, Aragoncillo said. The rate of use shows just how in demand menstrual supplies are.
“It’s insane how much these products cost people,” Aragoncillo said.