The Monthlies Project is a community initiative.
Launched in October of 2022, The Monthlies Project is a community initiative that provides menstrual care products, education, and awareness to school-aged students to spotlight the issues of period poverty and the educational inequity it creates.
Not only does period poverty negatively impact physical, mental, and emotional health, it can create a barrier to equal opportunity in education. Lack of access to menstrual health products can cause school-aged students with periods to miss or be late to class or feel anxious about period care, which can affect achievement in school and lead to educational inequity. According to a 2019 article from The Washington Post, 84% of young menstruators in school reported to have personally known someone who missed class due to lack of access to menstrual health products. Additionally, 66% of teens reported they didn’t want to be at school during their period due to shame and self-consciousness.
Lack of access to menstrual health products can cause students with periods to miss or be late to class or feel anxious about period care. Unfortunately, other public assistance programs designed to help those facing financial hardships, such as SNAP and WIC, are not permitted to be used to purchase menstrual health products. The average menstruator spends $13.25 each month, equating to over $6,000 over the course of an average reproductive lifespan (age 12-52) (Sadlier 2019), which makes this an issue of economic inequity. No one should be scared, embarrassed or worried about getting their period – that’s where The Monthlies Project steps in to help!
Partnering with the Women’s Fund for the Fox Valley Region, Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin and its many partners within this program act as a resource to schools and community programs in Northeast Wisconsin to assist with providing adequate access to menstrual health products. The Monthlies Project is serving over 160 partners and has distributed over 600,000 period products as of 2024.
To learn more and donate to the fund, visit MonthliesProject.com.
How The Monthlies Project Works:
How You Can Help End Period Poverty:
"We’re so deeply grateful that you’re disrupting systemic inequalities, eliminating barriers, and ensuring that girls have access to what they need to meet basic needs so that they can show up for themselves in their lives and in our community."
Girl Scouts, Grants Coordinator
