In Massachusetts, one in seven girls do not have reliable access to pads or tampons, which makes participation in school difficult or impossible during their menstrual cycles. When a local business owner became aware of the realities of period poverty—both on a global scale and locally—she felt called to act.
Ashley Batlle, founder and owner of Beauty Batlles Lounge, launched the “Empower Her Confidence” supply drive at her beauty and wellness salon to collect period and hygiene products for students in need. In recent weeks, other local businesses and community members rallied together to contribute to the drive.
In total, more than 7,000 pads and tampons were collected, along with 3,600 personal hygiene wipes, $500 worth of other personal care items, and $2,100 in monetary donations to support the purchase of additional supplies.
Ms. Battle chose to split the supplies between Chicopee Public Schools, since her salon is in Chicopee, and Holyoke Public Schools, where her children attend school. Her goal: To help improve student attendance by making it easier for students to access essential period supplies.
“We shouldn’t be allowing our youth to skip out on their education, just for something that they’re not possibly able to control,” said Ms. Battle. “This year with my salon, I had the proper platform to do something about it and launched this initiative.”
A team of HPS employees from the district’s Homeless Services department and Central Supply were impressed when they saw firsthand the stacks of donated items that had been collected at the salon. From there, they packed up the supplies that had been set aside for HPS students and brought them back to district offices, where they will be shared with families with the highest level of needs.
HPS Homeless Coordinator Stefany Garcia is confident the supplies will make a difference.
“By making sure that our families don’t need to worry about where their period supplies are coming from, it’s easier for students to focus on school and for parents to focus on other issues,” she explained. “We want to remove as many barriers to attendance as possible, and these donated period supplies are an important way we can support good attendance”