The club Women4women will be collecting menstrual products in room B212 for the rest of the year. They are hoping to receive mostly pads and panty liners, although they will also take other items, such as tampons. 

Juniors Tamyra Kelly and Ria Anand started Women4women last November as a way to combat period poverty, which is the lack of access to menstrual products. The group began collecting items shortly after Christmas break and worked with Student Council and National English Honor Society to increase the number of donations.

“It’s not an issue that we commonly think about because we usually think about food, water, clothes and things like that, but sanitary products are a huge part of women’s lives,” Anand said. “They really do need it.”

They will be taking all donations to local schools and homeless shelters, such as Huffines Middle School and GRACE Food Pantry and Medical Clinic. Although the club is still new on campus, Women4women has already donated a total of about 800 packages of products.

“Our main mission is to provide girls who can’t really afford menstrual products with products,” Kelly said. “We believe that everyone has periods and [products are] not a luxury.”

While the club’s main focus so far this year has been on collecting products and raising funds, Kelly and Anand hope to expand Women4women so they can begin educating students about periods and break the stigma surrounding them. 

“A lot of girls feel embarrassed about something that everyone goes through,” Kelly said. “We’re tired of that and people being so ignorant to what actually goes on with the girl during their period. So we just want to try to make girls feel more comfortable.”