“Hey, do you have a pad?”
For school-aged menstruators, that gut-sinking feeling of starting your period without the proper supplies can be devastating. They may feel embarrassment, shame and discomfort, to mention any physical symptoms that may come along.
We’ve previously written about period poverty, but we spoke to another organization, Sylvia’s Sisters, that’s celebrating its 10th anniversary of working to eliminate period poverty in Central Virginia (and beyond).
Nonprofit Beginnings
Sylvia’s Sisters was founded by two women from different parts of the world: Jennifer Taylor in Chesterfield, Virginia, and Sylvia Namukasa, an environmentalist in Kirinda, Uganda. Their friendship started when Taylor’s son traveled to Uganda for a college environmental project. Taylor and Namukasa stayed in touch and over time worked to address an environmental and educational gap in Uganda with reusable period products and access to water.
Taylor’s attention quickly turned back to her community stateside. By 2014, Sylvia’s Sisters was founded, and by 2016, the organization was supplying Central Virginia schools with period products to distribute to menstruators.
“In talking with the schools, Jennifer realized how pervasive the issue of period poverty was in the U.S., too. At the time, it wasn’t part of the public conversation at all. She started taking donations of period products for nonprofits working with low-income populations,” said Brittany Averette, the executive director of Sylvia’s Sisters. “The demand was instant and incredible. This was a need that had not been met before in the Richmond community.”
Addressing an Upspoken Issue
Let’s level-set. In our conversation with Averette, we learned that cost plays a significant role in accessing period products.
- The cost for pads over a 12-month period increased as much as 17% during the pandemic.
- According to a 2021 survey by Kotex, 38% of low-income women reported having to miss work due to a lack of period supplies.
- Period supplies are taxed as “luxury” items in 60% of the U.S., and there is no federal aid program to help people purchase pads, tampons or menstrual cups.
This means low-income families are making difficult decisions each month on whether they restock period supplies, pay a bill or put food on the table.
To meet the demand, Sylvia’s Sisters started to donate products to the community, giving out 70,000 period products in its first year. Now, it gives upwards of 400,000 period products annually in Central Virginia alone. It also helped champion legislation that expanded menstrual health education and mandated period products be placed in schools across Virginia.
Weaving into Wraparound Services
While the mandate is a win, Averette noted some challenges that continue to make access a challenge.
“It’s an unfunded mandate,” she said. “There is no budget given to the school districts to support this. Some districts have budget, others don’t. The larger issue outside of budget, however, is simply compliance.”
For some schools, custodial staff may be responsible for stocking, but they may not know the requirements. Vandalism to dispensers also has caused issues – and if a school has budget for dispensers, they may not always be functional or stocked. One of the workarounds Sylvia’s Sisters has deployed is integrating with wraparound supports and services within school systems that already have a direct line to students in need.
“About half of our products go with schools, and we work with school representatives and nurses to provide them with period kits,” Averette said. “Communities in Schools (CIS) reps and school nurses, they know which students need extra support.”
The period kits are comprised of high-quality overnight pads, tampons and liners all in one discrete kit. These kits are designed to support a menstruator for one month. Working with CIS, a nonprofit that exists outside of the school system in Central Virginia, has been a critical connection because these staff members are seen as trusted adults in the lives of the youth they serve.
The Next 10 Years
The stigma surrounding periods is still there, but thanks to new efforts to reach youth at an earlier age, the hope is that period talk isn’t just a taboo women’s health issue but simply an everyday conversation point.
Averette and a nurse practitioner helped orchestrate a menstrual health education program at a local school for third- to fifth-grade girls.
“We brought in period products, showed them how they worked – they loved that part,” said Averette. “They’ve never had a chance to see how it works or play with the products. The fifth graders were telling their stories, and everyone was opening up. In doing these sessions, we’re equipping students with knowledge about their bodies and are helping them learn to advocate for themselves and others.”
The program just expanded to fourth- and fifth-grade boys to help show how they can be supportive of their peers, dispel myths and get them comfortable talking about the subject.
Looking beyond the classroom, Sylvia’s Sisters hopes to expand into a bigger operations space. Earlier this year, it had to turn down a donation by Thinx, which wanted to contribute 4,000 pairs of period underwear, because it didn’t have storage space. For those wishing to support Sylvia’s Sisters, the organization accepts monetary and physical donations.
To learn more about Sylvia’s Sisters, visit its website or follow on Facebook or Instagram.
