05-03-2025
This Cumberland County student wants to end limited access to menstrual products. Period.
One in five girls in the U.S. has missed school because of a lack of menstrual products, according to research by a Gray's Creek High School student.
The student, senior Amber Johnson, wants to change the stats.
Johnson, who's been in Girl Scouts for 15 years, has made tackling period poverty part of her Girl Scout's Gold Award Project, which is the highest award a scout can receive.
According to the National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine, period poverty is 'the lack of access to safe and hygienic menstrual products during monthly periods and inaccessibility to basic sanitation services or facilities as well as menstrual hygiene education.'
'It's a lot more common than people think,' Johnson said during an interview at her school last week. 'People that could be walking next to you every day in the hallway can just be going through it … What I learned through my research, they use things such as socks or balled up tissues or even rags to kind of accommodate that need for having menstrual products.'
Using the same menstrual product for too long 'increases the risk of infections such as urinary tract infection and bacterial vaginosis,' according to the National Library of Medicine.
Johnson said she first became aware of the issue when she noticed girls at her school didn't always have menstrual products when needed.
Research she found through the Period Power Coalition states that one in four students experience period poverty in North Carolina, and one in three low-income women report missing work, school and other commitments due to not having period supplies.
The Period Power Coalition is a statewide group of organizations formed to address the issues of menstrual equity and period poverty in North Carolina and has provided period supplies to more than 350 schools, supporting more than 15,000 students monthly.
According to the National Organization of Women, the average person spends $20 on hygiene products per menstrual cycle.
North Carolina is also one of 20 states that adds a tax to the cost.
Last summer, Johnson said, she went to Raleigh for Advocacy Day to talk to legislators about the amount of funding that goes into the school system for menstrual products She learned a grant is in place, but Cumberland County didn't apply for it.
In January, she asked the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners to consider funding to provide menstrual products at no cost in Cumberland County schools. Officials are researching the grant funding, as they are in the early stages of budget planning for the next fiscal year.
The school system provides supplies in the nurse's office, but when they run out, social workers or teachers spend their own money, said Gray's Creek High School assistant principal Melanie Myrtle.
Calling her Girl Scout initiative, Project Freedom: Empowering Period Dignity, Johnson wants to establish closets for free access to menstrual products in more accessible areas in schools.
She organized a collection drive last weekend at Lewis Chapel Missionary Baptist Church and selected seven Cumberland County schools as the recipients.
'I feel like every school should be included, but just for the sake of my project, I chose seven based off some surveys that I took and talking with some of the social workers at the different schools,' she said.
Along with collecting products, Johnson wants to normalize discussions about menstruation and host workshops to educate students, staff and the community about menstrual health while promoting dignity, self-care and hygiene practices.
'I definitely think that education when it comes to the reproductive system is very important, and that will also eliminate the stigmas that come with period poverty,' she said. 'I feel like the more that people are educated, the more that we can get resources, and students will actually get what they need.'
While the deadline for Johnson's Girl Scout Gold Award project is the end of March, and she graduates in the spring, she said she wants the initiative to continue.
'I'll pass it off to one of the organizations I'm part of at school so they can contribute to the closet as well as working with other schools,' she said.
Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@ or 910-486-3528.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Cumberland County senior aims to stop period poverty locally
