Before her 7:25 a.m. class, Chalisa Budhai is sometimes so groggy she forgets to pack an important item that can disrupt her day at a moment’s notice: menstrual products.
In a pinch, the 21-year-old African American studies, legal history and political science junior heads to one of 18 campus restrooms with period packs — pink, sticker-covered cardboard boxes filled with free tampons and pads.
UF’s chapter of Planned Parenthood Generation Action began distributing period packs in Spring 2024 as part of a broader effort to make menstrual products more accessible to college students. Now, the organization is working with the company Aunt Flow, current Student Government vice president Laura Thomas and Student Government vice president-elect Jade Gonzalez, to expand the project to more campus bathrooms.
The partnership will build upon an existing project spearheaded by Aunt Flow and Thomas, which installed 12 permanent period product dispensers in gender-neutral bathrooms across campus in Fall 2024. The group is still determining how many bathrooms it’ll expand the project to, Thomas said.
“[Menstrual products are] something that you shouldn’t have to pay for, go off campus for,” she said.
UFPPGA originally launched its period packs program to combat “period poverty,” defined by the National Institutes of Health as “having insufficient access to menstrual products, education, and sanitation facilities.”
Recent data from various online surveys and publications, including the National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments and intimate health brand INTIMINA, estimates between 10% and 20% of U.S. college students suffer from period poverty.
A 2023 online survey by INTIMINA on 1,300 college students found over 18% of students felt forced to decide between buying menstrual products and meeting other personal costs, like paying bills or buying food, within the year. The survey primarily drew from Ohio State University, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Harvard University students.
Sisters Chloe and Sonja Wangensteen took over the period packs initiative after its founder, UF alumna Sabrina Briceno, graduated last spring. They hope the group’s new partnership with
Aunt Flow and Student Government will help make period packs a permanent fixture in campus bathrooms.
Each week, the period packs are refilled with new products.
“The ultimate goal is really just to expand this as far as we can and to get a more permanent solution, not a little cardboard box,” said Chloe Wangensteen, a 22-year-old applied physiology and kinesiology senior.
She said she got involved with the initiative after experiencing difficulties finding accessible menstrual products when she first started studying at UF.
“I think at the time there was one bathroom that had a tampon dispenser in it, and it was empty,” Chloe Wangensteen said. “It was like 25 cents or something, and it didn't even work.”
The project relies on student volunteers and donations to supply the period products. Restroom users are encouraged to leave spare menstruation products, and they can scan a QR code on the side of the packs to request refills. The organization also has an Amazon wishlist, where people can buy menstrual products for the packs.
Sonja Wangensteen, a 19-year-old applied physiology and kinesiology sophomore, said she hopes period packs can help everyone on campus feel safe and supported.
“Menstrual products are just something that should be available, almost like toilet paper,” she said.
Ainsley Marshall, a 21-year-old music history and literature senior, said the packs have been “a relief” when her periods begin unexpectedly on campus. Even when she doesn’t need one, the period packs make her feel supported and more comfortable.
“It's just really nice to see that there's that type of support among women,” Marshall said.
Contact Sofia Meyers at smeyers@alligator.org. Follow her on X @SofiaMeyer84496
Sofia Meyers is a second-year journalism major and the university general assignment reporter. When she is not reporting, she enjoys taking walks, reading books and playing pickle ball.
