“Period products are not a luxury. They are a basic necessity.”
This is one of Idaho Period Project’s beliefs, according to its website.
The Idaho Period Project is a nonprofit based in eastern Idaho that is on a mission to provide accessible period supplies to women and girls.
President and founder Avrey Hendrix explained that period poverty happens everywhere, even in eastern Idaho. Hendrix founded the Idaho Period Project in January 2022. She noticed that Utah was doing a similar project, and thought Idaho might have a similar issue. Hendrix said, “Sure enough, it was.”
Hendrix’s main reason for starting the nonprofit was to advocate for those who don’t have a voice. Hendrix said one in four girls in the United States experience period poverty, and the same statistic applies to eastern Idaho.
When Hendrix speaks to the Distinguished Young Women of Idaho about the Idaho Period Project, she asks a quarter of the girls in the room to stand, symbolizing the 25% of girls in eastern Idaho who experience period poverty.
“It’s eye-opening for them to see. Like, ‘Wow, there’s this many kids that experience that?’,” Hendrix said.
She explained period poverty is a result of poverty in general.
“There’s food poverty, so of course there’s menstrual poverty, right? Because it just falls in our grocery bill,” Hendrix said.
Period poverty leads girls and women to difficult and unfortunate situations. Hendrix explained girls will miss school, leading to a loss of education.
Hendrix shared a story of a girl in northern Idaho who was being raised by a single dad and was only given one pad a day, which is not sanitary. Lack of supplies can lead to infections and other hygienic issues. Hendrix said it can also lead to mental health issues, because a young girl can feel embarrassed when dealing with a period alone, with a lack of resources, and a lack of menstrual knowledge.
One of Idaho Period Project’s main focuses is to get period supplies in school bathrooms across eastern Idaho. Since 2022, the non-profit has been able to install almost 100 menstrual product dispensaries in 75 school bathrooms.
The non-profit also has the Idaho Period Positivity coalition with southwest Boise Days for Girls, which is a non-profit that works to provide menstrual supplies and menstrual hygiene to girls around the world. The coalition joins in on pilot programs that Days for Girls offers in order to get supplies in the schools.
The Idaho Period Project also makes “period packs” for schools and food banks. The non-profit is trying to make period supplies accessible to both young girls and women.
“We started with youth, and now we’re branching out to women, because it’s a whole cycle. If a mom’s taken care of, then she’s happier, then the kids are taken care of,” Hendrix said. Idaho Period Project has given out more than 750,000 period products across eastern Idaho.
There are four different types of period packs: lite (with pantyliners and pads for lite flows), pad (with panty liners and a variety of pads), and two combo packs (with tampons and pads for regular or heavy flows).
Before summer begins, the nonprofit creates around 4,000 packs to give to girls to take home for the summer. The packs include enough period supplies to last for four months.
“We found that, yes there is period poverty, but there’s also people like you and I that go to the bathroom and don’t have supplies, so that’s why we’re advocating for it in the bathrooms,” Hendrix said.
A challenge the Idaho Period Project has been faced with is finding the number of girls in need of period supplies at each school. Hendrix said they have noticed that rural areas of east Idaho, like Clark County, have a higher need for period products. In places like Madison County, the need is still there, but it is less. Even though the nonprofit receives data and numbers from the schools, they are sure there are more girls out there who need help.
“There might be kids that come to get help, and there might be kids that will never ask for help, but they need it,” Hendrix said.
The Idaho Period Project knows it does good work, but Hendrix said it is easy to get caught up in the mundane things of running a nonprofit. She said she was printing her business cards one day when she started talking to two teenage girls at the store. When they saw her business cards and found out she was part of the Idaho Period Project, they thanked her and said they were “so grateful” for the period supply dispensers in their school.
“Just for her to be so excited and grateful ... I was like, ‘This is what it’s all about’,” Hendrix said.
If people don’t know period poverty is an issue, they won’t know how to help, Hendrix explained. She believes education is huge when it comes to knowing the needs of your community.
People can help the Idaho Period Project by doing anything they can, Hendrix said, whether that’s giving a box of tampons, having a period packing party, having a donation drive, or even just sharing and liking their social media posts.
Another way to support the Idaho Period Project is attending the EmpowHER gala. Hendrix explained the gala will be a night with appetizers and dinner, vendor booths to shop, raffles, a silent auction, entertainment, and a mini program. Hendrix said it’s a fun “girl’s night.”
Tickets are $100 for general admission and $150 for VIP. Part of the proceeds will go towards funding period packs. EmpowHER will be March 14 at Snake River Event Center in Idaho Falls. To buy tickets, visit https://tinyurl.com/y5788e39.
To learn more about the Idaho Period Project, or to get involved, visit https://idahoperiodproject.org/.