A partnership among Girl Scouts of Northern New Jersey, Bergen County Food Security Task Force and YWCA Northern New Jersey kicked off this month to tackle inadequate access to menstrual products and education, a struggle known as period poverty. The partnership will include collection drives to equip local food pantries with period products.
Helen Archontou, CEO of YWCA Northern New Jersey, said those fundraising drives are especially critical to those who fall below the poverty line. “Period products are not eligible to be purchased with public assistance programs like SNAP and WIC and MEDICAID. And so again if we are talking about families and menstruation on public assistance, they have no choice but to menstruate and yet they don’t have the ability to access these products through the support that they are eligible for and that’s troubling,” she said.
Brianna Van Orden’s advocacy for those who have inadequate access to menstrual products started when she was a sophomore in high school and read nasty comments demeaning “period underwear” in a Facebook post. The Girl Scout alum, now a college student, became a 2021 Gold Award Recipient, the highest award a Girl Scout can achieve.
Van Orden says she is now connecting with local legislators to discuss bills that would declare May Period Poverty Awareness Month and attain free period products in all schools with a focus on schools below the poverty line.
