Menstrual products.Photo: Getty
As a middle school teacher at an Austin-based charter school where most students are economically disadvantaged, Kylie DeFrance quickly realized many of her female students lackaccess to menstrual products.
“I noticed scholars were taking a few extra at the end of the day, because they don’t have pads at home (99.8 of my students are economically disadvantaged and receive a free breakfast, lunch, and supper),” DeFrance wrote in a January post seeking donations of sanitary products on her communityNextDoor page.
DeFrance has garnered a reputation as an adult whom female students can approach when they need menstrual products their families often can’t afford,CNNreported. But her unofficial status as the “pad bag teacher” has now become a school-wide initiative thanks to an outpouring of support from the Austin community.
After she requested donations for what was originally envisioned as a “menstruation station” for the girls' restroom, DeFrance’s supporters have sent a deluge of pads and tampons to provide crucially needed sanitary products.
The 8th-grade language arts teacher tells PEOPLE she has received about 300 boxes of pads and 100 boxes of tampons so far. The donations exceed her original expectations.
“I thought two or three boxes would come in,” DeFrance told CNN. “My community blew me away with how much support they provided.”
She’s now able to supply other teachers in her school so that they, too, can keep their classrooms stocked.
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According toGlimmer Austin, roughly 17% of children under 18 in Travis County lived below the poverty line in 2016, and children are more likely to live in poverty than adults or seniors in the county.
NBC stationKXANreported that DeFrance has also been able to send sanitary product kits home with students. She told the news outlet that she plans to continue stocking up classrooms and backpacks for as long as she receives the donations.
“When you are supporting a teacher’s Amazon wish list, you’re not just supporting the teacher — you are supporting 100-plus kids that love getting this support, especially from strangers,” she told KXAN. “It’s a really neat feeling. It’s a cool feeling.”
source: people.com
