No Quarter? No Problem!
A DIVE BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE ACCESSIBLE, FREE MENSTRUAL PRODUCTS AT WEST ALBANY HIGH.
By Helen Whiteside
W
hen health teacher Jennifer Bornheimer saw a having a voice on something like the Statewide, Oregon House Bill 3294 became efbunch of unused period products gathering dust school board,” Thorp said. At the acfective September 25th, requiring public educain the locker room office, she knew that there was tual meeting, her segment was received tion providers to provide both tampons and pads a way to put them to use, and simultaneously help the student very well, and both she and Borheimer at no cost to students. As far as the funding goes, body. were thrilled. the Oregon Department of Education now pro“The big box that I found...was just like some vides products to Bornheimer when the supply free samples that had been sent by Tampax...I is running low, and Thorp’s mission is complete. opened them up, dumped out all the product, and “I was just super ecstatic that girls would have I guess you could say that’s how [the project] was access to these products,” Thorp said. “Society born,” Bornheimer said. wants us to pay for them and feel ashamed about As a health teacher, she was well aware of them.” “PART OF WHY I GOT INVOLVED IS I the need for menstrual products. “People would Along with supervising the menstrual products WANTED ALL THE SCHOOLS IN THE frequently come in and ask me, ‘do you have any in the bathrooms, Bornheimer has a big containsupplies?’” Bornheimer said. After some time, it er in her classroom, C1, full of little zipper bags GAPS DISTRICT TO HAVE ACCESS got to the point where she knew she wanted to with multiple products in each. She encourages TO FREE PADS AND TAMPONS, AND form a better system for the student body. any student in need to pop into her classroom at I DIDN’T WANT IT TO FALL ON THE “I started thinking, what if we took that big box any time and get a discreet bag that they can take in there, and maybe took some time and had conhome. PARENTS,” tainers that we put some products out in,” Bor“I have a few friends that have been in a sticky heimer said. It ended up catching on to the point situation here at school recently, and the products of having some students get involved and spend in the bathrooms and from Bornheimer have restudy hall time putting a few pads and tampons ally been a life saver,” freshman Leia Dorman into little bins, and setting a bin in each bathroom. “I think they [the school board] were said. On behalf of the student body, she’s super At the time, there were free menstrual products available, but a little taken aback and didn’t realize grateful for the thorough period product system students had to go to the office and specifically ask for them. that [free products in the bathroom] the school provides. “From me and my peers, Bornheimer knew all too well the anxiety this would cause for wasn’t available,” Bornheimer said. thank you to the group of people who made this some kids. “I was always very quiet about it and not letting anyhappen, it means a lot.” “So yeah, they were super supportive.” one know-if I was stuck in [between] a rock and a hard place... and didn’t have any products, I probably would have left for the day,” she said. College sophomore and WAHS alumni Hannah Thorp was involved in the process of bringing free period products to the According to the Huffington Post, an bathrooms. Thorp was the student representative on the school average box of 36 tampons is $7, making board as a junior, and at the time the period basket system had the amount spent on tampons in a lifetime nearly $2000. already been implemented to some extent. She noticed the prodWhen including products such as heatucts were going really quickly, and was curious to learn more ing pads and birth control, the total cost about the system and who was behind it. of these products is around $18,000. Thorp talked to Bornheimer, and found out that moms of students were providing the funds for products. “Part of why I got involved is I wanted all the schools in the GAPS district to have access to free pads and tampons, and I didn’t want it to fall on the parents,” Thorp said. Thorp knew immediately she wanted to spend her time at the next school board meeting proposing a system of funding for all the schools in the district. She ended up making an email thread with the moms that were donating funds and asking them to make a public comment at the meeting in support of her proposal. Thorp took it upon herself to take this action because she knew there might not be any other students who would. “I just [knew] that ...women maybe didn’t feel comfortable
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PERIODS ARE EXPENSIVE.
T H E W H I R LW I N D
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