Period poverty in NC schools: The Diaper Bank is stepping in to help

By Jennifer Fernandez

Since 2014, the Diaper Bank of North Carolina has given out more than 3 million period supplies to schools across the state.

When the nonprofit first started giving out tampons, sanitary pads and other items, the term “period poverty” was not used much in the United States, said founder and CEO Michelle Schaefer.

“It was something that we talked about happening in Third World countries, but period poverty really wasn’t a term you heard often,” she said. “And we certainly were not hearing about it happening in our own schools, in our own communities.”

But it is happening, she said.

Victoria Ferrer-Rondon, 15, a rising junior at Johnston County Career and Technical Leadership Academy, told NC Health News that friends tell her they often don’t have period products available at their schools. They will text each other to see who has some, or go to one of the teachers who provide supplies using their own money, she said.

“It’s not something you can control, so it will come when you least expect it,” she said. “You kind of have to find a way to solve it when sometimes you don’t even have those resources.”

In 2021, North Carolina legislators approved a grant program to help get period supplies into public schools. The initial $250,000 grant program has grown to $500,000 annually. Even with the increased support, demand consistently outstrips funding, with nearly twice as many school districts requesting grants each year than there is money available.

Legislators are turning to the Diaper Bank of NC for help. In the budget approved by the General Assembly last week and signed by Gov. Josh Stein on Tuesday, the state formalized the nonprofit’s role as the provider for the annual Feminine Hygiene Products program. The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction oversees the program and produces an annual report on its effectiveness.

“[Legislators] trust us in the work, and they value what we do, and we’re happy to partner with DPI to make it successful,” Schaefer said.

“The General Assembly is moving towards helping us cover more schools, and I think that’s really positive,” she added.

Period poverty

Period poverty is described as inadequate education about menstruation and access to hygiene products. 

In the United States, more than two in five women struggle to afford period products, according to a 2021 poll.

That also affects students. One in four teens reports having missed class because they didn’t have tampons or pads, according to the Alliance for Period Supplies, a program of the National Diaper Bank Network that leads a network of nonprofits focused on ending period poverty in the U.S. In North Carolina, 67 percent of female students in middle or high school attend a school that receives federal poverty aid.

“It directly affects female students’ focus,” Ferrer-Rondon said, especially when they have to worry about whether they will have the hygiene products they need if they get their period during school.

There is growing acknowledgement of the need to make it easier to access period products, especially for students. 

A 2024 poll by YouGov for the Alliance for Period Supplies found that 76.5 percent of those surveyed either “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that pads and tampons should be freely available in public schools and universities.  

North Carolina’s Feminine Hygiene Products program has funneled $1.75 million to schools over the past five academic years. Schools have used the money mostly to buy pads and tampons, but also underwear and leggings so students can change clothes in case of  accidents. The money has also covered a range of other needs, such as educational materials on puberty, product dispensers and receptacles, and reusable heating patches for menstrual pain.

In the first year of the grant program, 134 charter schools and public school districts applied and 66 were awarded grants. The allotted $250,000 was gone in less than a week.

The General Assembly codified the grant program in the 2022 appropriations act, then doubled the grant money for the 2024-25 school year. That allowed more than double the number of schools to participate.

For the most recent school year, 138 schools received grants out of 316 who applied.

How schools use grants

In DPI’s most recent annual report on the program, schools shared how they’ve used the money and how it has helped them.  

“Many of our female students do not have the monetary means or transportation to obtain their needed feminine products, so they come to school without them, relying on the nurse’s office to have them,” Asheboro City Schools wrote in its application for the 2025-26 school year. “The district nurses have been supplying these things, for menstrual needs at school, mostly out of pocket.” 

Bertie County Schools officials said that “meeting this basic need with dignity” helps students feel more confident, supported and ready to fully engage in their learning.

“Ultimately, it promotes a healthier school environment and strengthens overall student well-being,” the district said in its application.

Beaufort County Schools said it has depended on $3,500 to $4,000 in donations every year to handle a “huge increase” in the need for feminine hygiene products at its schools.

“These young ladies aren’t being supplied from home,” officials said. “We are a rural county with free breakfast and lunch at all the schools. Most students, when they come get a tampon or pad, take several. This will allow them to have a resource at school.”

Cabarrus County Schools said its $5,000 grant would mean the district could buy $200 worth of pads and tampons for each of its secondary schools.

Clay County Schools said previous grants allowed schools to have supplies readily available throughout the day, which greatly benefited students. They used the money to add period-product stations in every restroom at their middle and high school buildings, and they bought supplies for other buildings in the district.

“As a small rural community with all four schools located on one campus but spread across multiple buildings, maintaining consistent access to supplies in the majority of our female restrooms has made a significant and positive impact,” the district said. “The availability of these products has supported student comfort, dignity, and preparedness, and we are grateful for the opportunity to continue providing this essential resource. Without this grant, we do not have a funding source or budget for feminine hygiene supplies.”

Another school noted that many students are still dealing with the loss of reliable access to hygiene supplies in the wake of Hurricane Helene’s destruction. 

DPI applauded the program’s impact.

“It is rare that there is a solution so tangible with widespread impacts on student attendance and health and well-being as the Feminine Hygiene Products Grant Program,” officials wrote in the latest annual report. “An increase in the program funding could have the potential to make statewide impacts on chronic absenteeism, academic success and outcomes, and the overall mental and physical health of students across North Carolina.” 

New model

For the coming school year, the grant program will be adjusted so that the Diaper Bank of NC will provide materials to participating schools based on the number of female students in grades six through 12.

The details are still being worked out, Schaefer said. One of those is distribution, which is the biggest cost for the Diaper Bank, she said.

The nonprofit lobbied state legislators to make the change to the period products program. Students like Ferrer-Rodon, who is a board member of the Diaper Bank’s Period Power Coalition, spoke with lawmakers in May during an advocacy day.

“The Diaper Bank is a nonprofit organization who reaches, currently, 1,000 schools through their own funding, no state funding needed,” she said. “We were asking them if that money was moved, then we could reach more schools in North Carolina.”

Under the statewide grant program, schools have used the money to buy items at stores or online, but they don’t last the full academic year, Schaefer said.

The Diaper Bank will be able to draw on the relationships it has built over the years with manufacturers, retailers and donors, to get more products to more schools, she said. 

She would love for the state program to focus on rural schools that don’t have a lot of access to products, but said details like that are still being hashed out with DPI.

More help ahead?

Federal assistance programs, such as food benefits and Medicaid, cannot be used for period products, which advocates like Schaefer say sometimes leaves the most vulnerable people unable to afford basic hygiene items.

As of July 2026, North Carolina is one of 18 states that still tax period products, according to the Alliance for Period Supplies. The organization said that these states view period products as a “luxury item” instead of a basic necessity such as food or medicine, which either aren’t taxed or are taxed at a lower rate. 

Eliminating the tax on personal hygiene items — in particular, period products, baby diapers and incontinence products — has been a longtime goal of some Democrats in the North Carolina legislature. For years they’ve introduced legislation to do that, but the bills have languished without support from Republicans or the other chamber to advance.

But a bill introduced in April appears to have more momentum.

House Bill 1200, the “Tax-Free Family Essentials Act,” was introduced by Rep. Mike Schietzelt (R-Wake Forest) and three other Republicans (including Rep. Grant Campbell, an OB-GYN from Concord). It passed the House, and its fate now rests with the Senate. 

The bill has bipartisan support, unlike many previous efforts by Democrats.

Midterm elections typically draw a bigger turnout than odd-year elections, especially for voters unhappy with the party in power. And all of the House’s seats come up for reelection every two years. 

Schietzelt, a first-term legislator, is in a competitive race to keep his seat in November’s election. Challenger Evonne Hopkins, a Raleigh Democrat, lost the seat by just over 3 percentage points in 2024 — a presidential election year that heavily favored Republican candidates up and down the ballot in the state.

Schietzelt promoted the bill at the June 30 House Finance Committee meeting.

“It’s pro-affordability. It’s pro-equality. And it is … pro-family,” Schietzelt said.

Sherry Presnall, a mother from Apex and employee with Wake County-based Diaper Train, a nonprofit, said access to diapers is a workforce issue. An average caregiver who is experiencing diaper poverty reports missing up to five days or work shifts per month, she told the committee.

“Every day I meet hardworking parents who are doing everything they can to provide for their children, and yet still struggle to afford the basic essential of diapers,” she said. “A baby can’t go without diapers. We know this. Parents can’t choose to buy fewer because money is tight.”

Schaefer is elated that the bill has moved forward, though it’s not clear whether the Senate will pick it up in the handful of work sessions scheduled for the rest of this year.

“It’s something that we have been talking about with legislators,” she said. “We’re delighted, because anytime that this is in the news, talking about this issue is a win for families.”

She said 78 percent of the families the Diaper Bank helps are working one to three jobs and still cannot afford basic hygiene supplies.

“So any kind of relief, even if it’s a small relief at that moment of them not paying taxes, is a win for families in North Carolina,” she said.

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