nearly one in four students in the U.S has struggled to afford period products an issue that disproportionately affects women and girls of color and in lower income communities a Bill signed into law this week by Governor Murphy establishes the last full week of May as period poverty awareness week and now the Girl Scouts of New Jersey are taking on the issue donating period products in their community and as Raven Santana reports are advocating for more support from Trenton eight-year-old Brianna Van Orden has been very busy handing out these pamphlets and holding fundraising drives advocating for those who have inadequate access to menstrual hygiene products and education a struggle known as period poverty she says our advocacy efforts started when she was a sophomore in high school and read nasty comments demeaning period underwear and a Facebook post and all that work paid off the Girl Scout alumn now all college student became a 2021 Gold Award recipient the highest award a Girl Scout can achieve I was able to reach out to all different companies such as like Tampax or you buy Kotex and even sustainable ones such as organic up that are like menstrual cups and I was able to ask them for donations and explain that I was pursuing my Gold Award and I wanted to end the stigma around period poverty and raise awareness to the issue and they were able to donate enough product to me that I was able to create 81 bags of product for women in a local women's shelter in addition to her fundraising efforts Van Orden successfully was able to implement free products in her school which are still being provided two years after she graduated and I talked to the administration at my high school and was able to implement free dispensers in all of the female and all gender bathrooms with free products and they're still there and still being used today and she says through her advocacy efforts she discovered cost played a part when it came to trying to eliminate period poverty so I know that every family situation is different and every individual has a different story so they might not be able to afford these products because those funds might be going elsewhere to other things like food or housing so I wanted to make sure that there were free products as well according to a report commissioned by things a period solution company known for its signature period underwear and period a youth fueled non-profit group focused on combating period poverty nearly one in four have struggled to afford period products about two and five often or sometimes cannot do their best schoolwork due to lack of access to period products and three and five say they rarely or never find free period products in school or public bathrooms a harsh reality for girls which is why the initiative was so important to the Girl Scouts of Northern New Jersey's CEO but here at Girl Scouts of Northern New Jersey we serve 18 000 girls who will menstruate one day a partnership among Girl Scouts of Northern New Jersey Bergen County food security task force and YWCA Northern New Jersey kicked off on May 4th the organizations collaborated to discuss ways to tackle the issue and outline advocacy efforts like collection drives to equip local food pantries with period products organizations all around our five County service area and individuals now donate products to us and we put to get put together 90-day supplies of products that we can give out free of charge to anybody in need whether that's girls or women and that's how the connection happened with the Girl Scouts YWCA Northern New Jersey CEO Helen Arcon 2 says those fundraising drives are especially critical to those who fall below the poverty line period products are not eligible to be purchased of Public Assistance programs like Snap and WIC and Medicaid and again so if we're talking about our families and our menstruators that are on public assistance you know they have no choice but to menstruate and yet they don't have the ability to be accessing these products through their supports that they you know are eligible for Van Orden says she is now connecting with local legislators to discuss bills that would declare a May period poverty awareness month and attain free period products in all schools with the focus on schools below the poverty line NJ Spotlight News I'm Raven Santana