Kenzie Blackwell
Fighting Period Poverty at Free.
Kenzie Blackwell is a Tennessee native, which means advocacy is built into her geographical DNA. When we learned of her work to end period poverty, we saw big numbers. Numbers like 2,901,825— the number of period products distributed since 2021. And $500,000—the grant awarded to her mission by the state of Massachusetts. And how about this number: 180. The school days missed because of a period by the time she graduates. That’s an academic year. That puts her behind in the classroom, affects her grades, SAT scores, scholarship opportunities, even MCAS scores. The numbers are big, but the impact is bigger for each girl who misses school because they don’t have access to a tampon.
This is real. Real big. It’s time for big conversations.
Kenzie Blackwell Free. photo: Stephanie C. Olsen
Ours begins here.
How did you discover the problem with period poverty? Can you explain what it is to us?
Those are great questions to start this conversation. I was a school counselor and worked in a high school that served under-resourced kids in Cambridge. So it should have been something on my radar, and it wasn’t. I had never read a story about it, I had never seen it on the news. Period poverty just wasn’t something I was aware of.
In 2019, I was volunteering at Hope and Comfort with my daughter helping to stock all sorts of hygiene products that are not covered by any sort of benefit program. They provide items like soap, shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrushes, all of those products that provide dignity to life and help kids engage in the day-to-day.
While in their warehouse I saw stacks of shampoo and other items and there was this comparatively small bin of period products. And I just happened to mention, “Oh, do you need those, too?” Their warehouse worker, who was giving us a tour said, “Let me tell you what’s happening. There are thousands of children in Massachusetts who don’t go to school because they don’t have access to period products.” That is period poverty, and looking back, I should have known about it.
You say “should have”?
It’s something that somebody should have been talking about long before now—it’s not up to the kids struggling to access products to have the conversation. It’s up to the adults in the room to advocate for children.
I get emotional thinking about it. In this moment in history where we are trying to think about equity and equal access to so many things, here is this hard truth, having a period makes it difficult for 1 in 4 kids to get an education. The point in a student’s education, when menstruation begins, can start a snowball effect of having to play catchup really early. It is easy to understand how 20 years down the road, not having a pad in seventh grade can really affect your life.
So, I should have known that so many people are living with this struggle and so many of the kids, some of whom I know were in my care at some point and were struggling too, but didn’t feel empowered enough to ask or talk about or seek assistance. It was one of those things I should have known at some point in my life because period poverty exists in every zip code in America. Sitting in a classroom, going to a friend’s house, going swimming—all of those things become a struggle because we don’t cover those products with benefits in this country.
So I call that moment in the warehouse my “Mack truck moment” because it really did hit me like I was just run into by a big truck. I was like, “Okay, I’ve got to do something about that, let me see what’s happening on the South Shore.”
A couple of weeks later, Covid happened. I went into survival mode just like everybody else, but I could not shake the idea that there were people in my town who probably weren’t going to school because they had a period.
There was this voice in my head that just wouldn’t let go. So I just started calling local food pantries and community resource centers. Within five phone calls, I had 700 people identified who needed access to period products every month. That’s 700 people, 12 times a year. I brought this information to St. John’s, saying we’ve got a problem, and nobody formally addresses this on the South Shore. They gave me the green light to create a new ministry, so Free. (pronounced Free Period) was born. I started posting on the town’s Facebook page with information about period poverty in our area. “Did you know that kids aren’t going to school? We have parents not going to work. People skip after-school activities or celebrations because they don’t have access to pads or tampons!” These truths are just unthinkable. And for me, it was one of those times where privilege smacked me in the face. I’ve never had to think about it. And it really, really got to me. And it got to everybody who read my Facebook posts too.
The community response was just amazing. For example, a group of Hingham High School kids saw the posts and organized a period product drive and within four weeks, there were 15,000 period products in my dining room. And I thought, okay, Free. is going to be one and done or will become a yearly period product drive that we do at St. John’s. But things just kept coming in. When the Patriot Ledger ran an article about us, Senator O’Connor saw it and reached out with the question, “What can the state do?” We then had a conversation about supporting pending legislation to mandate products in school restrooms, state prisons, and shelters. (Yes, our state prisons aren’t required to provide period products to those who are incarcerated). Senator O’Connor immediately signed on as a co-sponsor of the I AM bill and has since been a very vocal supporter of getting products where they should already be (just like toilet paper). He has also advocated for funding for our work for the last three years.
I’ve never before put period products and lack of education in the same sentence. Let’s come up with a scenario where a seventh-grader doesn’t have period products so misses school. So what happens then?
If you do the math, a 7th-grade student missing just three days of school each month through 12th grade adds up to exactly 180 days, which is a full academic school year. I always put three days out there because I give people the benefit of a weekend. We all know that periods aren’t that predictable, so for many, it’s a full five days out. That’s how impactful this can be for somebody who doesn’t have access. Students can be a full academic year behind by the time they graduate. And just think about having to play catch-up every month.
The simple solution to this is to put pads in the restroom. When a kid is in school, they have access to period care, and they can learn with dignity.
“If you do the math, a 7th-grade student missing just three days of school each month through 12th grade adds up to exactly 180 days, which is a full academic school year.”
Not to mention the kids who don’t have anyone at home to advocate for them and call the school and say, “Listen, my daughter will miss school.”
Maybe that’s what a parent would say. Maybe a parent would say, “My kid can’t come to school because we don’t have period products, so she has to miss class.” But that is not an excused absence. After a while, those unexcused absences add up. So these kids already have the undignified inability to have a period product. And then there’s the added indignity behind a punishment given for menstruating.
One of our student ambassadors in Norwell was talking about her friend missing class, but they didn’t report the real reason why. (And why should she have to?) Students would rather just have the unexcused absence and take the detention or zero on the assignment rather than admit their absence was only because they didn’t have a pad. This is happening and kids are struggling, and it’s up to us, the adults, to start talking about it. We have to demand that product access is made available because it should be a right and not a privilege for students with periods to go to school and learn with dignity.
Teachers have a tendency to take on these struggles by themselves on behalf of their students. But if they don’t know what’s happening, they can’t be of any help. What is the general reaction from teachers you tell about period poverty?
Teachers and school nurses have been silently meeting this need for decades but I’m not sure until recently everyone understood how widespread period poverty is across the state. Until Free., for most school districts, it was employees in the schools, the angels among us who are educating our children, silently trying their best to meet the needs. Schools have been very thankful to receive products from us because educators and nurses have been spending up to $1,000 a year of their income to make sure kids can go to class.
After about a year of operations, word of our program began to spread, and requests from schools started coming in at rates we couldn’t keep up with. We were lucky to form a very strong relationship with about 50% of school districts in the state. Our line of communication is with school nurses and not necessarily teachers, but the nurses are speaking on behalf of the teachers who are also helping to bridge this gap.
To help project inventory needs and get a better look into the impact of period poverty in Massachusetts, we did our own research. In the spring of 2023, we sent a survey to every school district in the state through school nurses, and we received 360 responses. We found that 92% of schools are not equipped to meet the needs of their menstruating students in Massachusetts. And the majority of the respondents, our school nurses, are paying out of pocket to have supplies in their nursing offices. That’s just too much of a burden.
We took this research to the state and said, “This is the burden that is being placed on educators across the state.” Those findings helped Senator O’Connor secure $500,000 in the FY24 state budget for us. We were able to work with South Shore-based Unicorn to use this funding for the distribution of 1.9 million organic and chemical-free products. These all went out in one week to 300 schools, Boys and Girls Clubs, and YWCAs. Free. is doing this so that school nurses, teachers, and employees don’t have to pay out of pocket anymore to keep kids in school with dignity.
So, to answer your question about the reaction from teachers, it is overwhelming gratitude and relief to finally have this struggle addressed publicly. Personally, it hit me when my former school reached out and asked for products, not knowing I had been an employee. I knew then that our work was effective. We were bringing the conversation about period poverty to the forefront and empowering both those impacted and those who were silently providing assistance to speak up about this widespread struggle.
How will products be given to the girls who are too afraid to raise their hand and say, “Can I go to the nurse’s office for a pad?”
In the fall of 2023, Free. initiated the Teal Circle Project, a silent signal project, for this very reason. We strongly feel period products should be in restrooms like toilet paper, but not every school is ready to go there yet. So we are meeting schools where they are. The Teal Circle Project is just a single teal circle sticker that doesn’t have our logo or anything on it; it’s just a teal dot. If you have products in your space, we ask that you place the dot in a visible location, like a teacher’s door or even on their desk so people know that they can come into that space and get what they need. Schools that we send products to are given signs to print and post in their restrooms so students know what the teal circle means. We had about 200 schools participate in the program last year.
This is incredible. I’m gonna rewind a little bit. You said that you needed to do something, and began this huge mission. Was there something in your childhood that said you must follow this voice when you hear it?
I was raised in East Tennessee, and our state mascot is the Volunteer. So, yes, I can say that. My identity as a Volunteer has always been part of my DNA. You see a need, so you just volunteer. I was raised to look for ways to help the community and give back. I had great parents who always put community service first. I also strongly feel every human on this planet deserves equity. They deserve love. They deserve respect.
What is your advice to the women who are looking for, after they hear your story, ways to give back?
Well, I always say to everyone, “Do what you can when you can.”
When you take on volunteerism, it should be something that you feel personally connected to and that brings you joy. It shouldn’t be a burden. You also have to understand it’s not up to you as an individual to change the world. That’s not a task that any one of us can do alone. It takes all hands doing a little bit to make a big change.
If writing a check is what you can do, write the check. I value the monetary donations we get because they allow us to do the work, but another huge piece of our impact costs nothing. Simply having conversations, and it doesn’t have to be conversations with elected officials; it’s those moments over cocktails or while walking at the park with your friend. But, that said, if anyone feels empowered to call their Representative, that is also another way to support this work. The more of us raising our voices, the better! The, “Hey, did you know?” conversation on Facebook started this all in motion and it will only grow when more people do the same.
As we start talking about this, the conversation starts to normalize. It brings awareness to the issue. That seems like a very low lift, but it can be an emotionally big lift because periods are still such a stigmatized issue, even for us as women in our later years.
Talking about menstruation is something that a lot of people still struggle with. I was listening to an interview with Unicorn, and someone asked, “How do you destigmatize this in your own personal conversations? I still struggle to even talk about it.” It hit me that I’ve been talking about this so much for the last three years that it’s just a normal part of conversations for me. In our house, I have a teenage son who goes to an all-boys school, and it is so normal to him and his peers that they wrote a letter to the State House to support the I AM bill. If we can start having these conversations and getting it out there, then people pay attention. By talking to our children, it makes it easy for them because we model leadership. My daughter is in middle school and her friends hand each other pads and tampons like it’s nothing. No one needs to be protected from knowing about menstruation, so by talking about it we are advocating for something bodies do naturally. Talking about periods empowers kids with periods to live life without stigma. So, when you hesitate to have the conversation, ask yourself, “Who does this help if I don’t talk about it?”
I love that starting with a simple conversation can be as powerful as writing a check, donating a box, or five hours of your time because conversation spreads like wildfire. Do you think this has become a full-time mission for you?
I would say yes, but it doesn’t feel like a full-time job because I feel like I was put into this position for a reason. And I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I really feel like things are coming together for the I AM bill to pass soon. Free. will be made obsolete because it should be obsolete. Free. should not have to exist.
That’s powerful. Trying to put yourself out of business is your goal.
Oh, gosh. I think every nonprofit says that. But I really, really feel like that is all we work for. All of the volunteers that do this, we’re like, “Maybe this is our last distribution. Maybe the I AM bill will pass, maybe schools will start to budget for this, and we’re not going to have to do this work anymore.” I tell everybody I will volunteer my time to do this until we run out of money or we are no longer needed.
“No one needs to be protected from knowing about menstruation, so by talking about it we are advocating for something bodies do naturally. Talking about periods empowers kids with periods to live life without stigma. So, when you hesitate to have the conversation, ask yourself, “Who does this help if I don’t talk about it?””
When do you think you’ll get your feedback from this grant and all the distribution from it?
The real-time feedback after these products were released was incredible. I feel really guilty that I’m the only one who gets to read these emails, but so many were like, “Oh my gosh, you have no idea how much this is going to change our school.” And “I’m not going to have to choose between Tylenol and Band-Aids and EpiPens and period products in my nursing budget.” In so many schools, nursing budgets have to cover everything that exists in that nursing office. And period supplies are not first aid. They should be like toilet paper. They should be thought of like all the rest of the necessary items provided in a school restroom because they are really no different.
I love that you have a narrative behind it. A seventh grader could average an entire school year of absences or face detention. That’s one year that they’re behind. That puts them behind in the college of their choice, or SAT scores which affect the state. Their MCAS scores fall. That affects the state. So talking their language is so important. You’ve got to be a teacher, a legislator, a policy writer, a mentor, or leader to the volunteer. You wear a lot of hats.
And I do it with full motivation and passion because we have to make it better for the students out there, especially those living with period poverty. It’s not up to them to advocate for their needs. It’s up to the decision-makers in the room to do so.
BE A CATALYST
Inspired by Kenzie? Here are ways you can get involved with her mission:
EMAIL US to receive notifications about volunteer opportunities
HOST A PACKING PARTY or Awareness Event!
HOST A PRODUCT DRIVE or fundraiser
DONATIONS can be sent to The Episcopal Parish of St. John the Evangelist, c/o Free. 172 Main Street, Hingham MA 02043. (Please note Free. in the memo line). Credit/Debit card donations can be made through our website and via PayPal
A donation of $5 will help secure a month’s worth of products for one person.
A donation of $60 will ensure a year’s worth of products for one person.
PERIOD PRODUCT DONATIONS can be left in the wooden donation box located at the side entrance of the church at 172 Main Street in Hingham.
CALL Contact your local Senator and Representative about the I AM bill. (S.2491/H.534) An Act to Increase Access to Menstrual Products in Prisons, Homeless Shelters and Public Schools, ensuring access to free menstrual products to all menstruating individuals in Massachusetts public schools, homeless shelters, and prisons. Visit MALegislature.gov/search/FindMyLegislator
