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Tarrytown Teen Stirred Into Activism By Supreme Court Decision

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Colleen Coffey with donated items for women

August 9, 2022

By Lily McInerney–

As soon as news of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade loomed on the television screen at Colleen Coffey’s Tarrytown house, she knew she had to do something.

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“Rights I had were suddenly gone. Women lost control of their literal medical decisions,” said the rising senior at Sleepy Hollow High School. “I was thinking about it in terms of my house, like my dad is the only person, the only male in my house, who has full medical protections.”

That realization prompted Coffey, 17, to spearhead a feminine hygiene donation drop-off drive in order to “do something for women.”

It’s not as though Coffey, who is involved with the New York Soccer Club, is a member of Girls Who Code and attended a cybersecurity camp at University of Buffalo, is idle, but she has never before created her own initiative like this one. “I’ve never really been like an activist. I don’t like the spotlight,” she said, “but I had to do something to make things better for women.”

Her drive is in partnership with “I Support Girls,” a non-profit organization whose goal is to help alleviate the issues of period poverty and gender inequality. I Support Girls has collected and distributed more than 16,000,000 feminine hygiene products, with more than 400,000 donated directly to high school-aged girls.

Coffey is looking for any menstruation products, ranging from period underwear to tampons, pads and menstruation cups. The only requirement is they be individually wrapped. Two-thirds of the donated products will go to needy women who are local (Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown). The remainder of the items will be donated to women’s homeless and domestic violence shelters in Syracuse and Rochester.

Colleen is accepting donations from August through November at the following drop-off locations:

Tarrytown Village Hall Lobby, 1 Depot Plaza, Tarrytown

Tarrytown Recreation Center, 240 West Main St, Tarrytown

Christ Episcopal Church, 43 South Broadway, Tarrytown

Reformed Church of the Tarrytowns (beginning early September), 42 North Broadway, Tarrytown

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