Period and hygiene products for young girls and teens were backed into totes, alongside school supplies into backpacks meant for students in the Greater Hartford area.
It is part of a new partnership between Dignity Grows and The Village to bring much-needed supplies to students prior to the new school year.
Girls are more likely to stay home from school if their family can’t afford to buy the products, according Jennifer Tolman, the president and COO of Dignity Grows.
“We know that a girl who doesn't have access to period products can miss up to 145 days of school by the end of 12th grade. That's a tremendous gap in education compared to her peers, and it widens the gender equity gap in our school systems,” said Tolman.
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Dignity Grows is a national organization that was started right here in the Hartford region and its focus is on providing period products, along with other hygiene products, to women in need across the country.
Schools reported seeing a 23% decrease in absenteeism when they routinely received Dignity Grows supplies.
“Having period products in the home and in one's own possession, that's really the key to success. Without period products in the home there's no way to first get up, get out of the house and go to school,” said Tolman.
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That is why Tolman believes the period products are just as important as providing the other back-to-school supplies like notebooks, pens and backpacks.
As a team of volunteers assembled the totes and backpacks on Thursday, Hector Glynn, The Village’s president and CEO, said this year’s distribution is probably more important than ever because of the environment around Hartford public schools.
They’ve had funding challenges, which has led to fewer resources. They know teachers already were buying supplies for their classrooms and some Hartford students still struggle with chronic absenteeism.
“The pressures on students, on teachers, on the entire system, is immense. And anything we can do as a community to just really sort of say, ‘school is important, education is important, and we believe you can be successful.’ And this is a tangible way to do that. It's not just words. It's, you know, putting something that students need, that teachers need, that the community needs, in the hands of people who can use it,” said Glynn.
The Village is raising money to reach its goal of providing at least 1,000 backpacks to school children in Hartford later this month.
