This is a sponsored post for Always
When I look back at my life so far, there are definite phases of life where my personality changed. When I was a young girl, I was confident, outgoing, and active. As I got older, I still loved to play sports, but I was not as outgoing. I began to worry more about what people thought of me and tended to look away from other people instead of being friendly and initiating conversation. Now that I’m an adult, I make an effort to be friendly and outgoing, even when I don’t feel very confident.
As a mom of two girls, I am very much aware now of how life can affect girls’ sense of confidence. Instead of letting my daughters become self-conscious about everything they do, I am trying to boost their feelings of self-worth and confidence. At every stage of their lives, I want them to feel their very best.
Because of that, I’m now realizing that there are so many factors affecting girls’ sense of self-esteem that I never considered. I know, of course, that a family’s financial hardships can affect a child’s feeling of confidence. But I didn’t stop to consider the different ways that actually happens.
I’ve donated food and time to countless organizations, church drives, school drives, and charities. During the holidays, we always choose at least one family to help provide Christmas presents for. We’ve worked at soup kitchens and homeless shelters. I thought I was helping in the most important areas of need.
So it amazes me that I never, ever heard of period poverty until this year!
It’s not just the term I’ve never heard before. I hate to admit it, but I never actually stopped to consider how girls without financial security afford period products. It seems so obvious now, of course, that if a family is struggling to pay bills or to get food on the table regularly, then feminine products would be an added expense they may not be able to afford.
I knew that girls in other countries are forced to go without period products, but didn’t realize the problem was so prevalent here in the U.S. as well. As it turns out, about 20% of American girls struggle with this problem.
In fact, nearly 1 in 5 girls have actually missed school because they can’t afford period protection. Missed lessons, sports practices and games, school dances and clubs.
It’s heartbreaking to imagine how much these girls miss when they have to stay home from school. The opportunities in school, in sports, and in social activities are so important during the tween and teen years.
The period products that most women take for granted make such a difference in life when a girl has to go without. Missing those school days can mean limiting a girl’s potential far beyond puberty.
When I talked to my daughters about period poverty, we decided to do what we could to make a change. The girls and I decided to collect feminine products for women and girls in our own community who are in need.
We spoke to friends and family, the girls’ Girl Scouts leaders, and some members of our church. When we shared information about period poverty, we found that many others were also unaware of how many girls are impacted in our community and beyond. We were able to collect several large boxes of period products that we delivered to our local pantry donation site.
This year, the campaign is working toward keeping girls involved in confidence-boosting activities. To make sure that girls are able to join in and participate in the activities they love, Always is helping tackle period poverty.
I was thrilled that we were able to get personally involved with a campaign that could help other girls in our community.
Always Live #LikeAGirl is a campaign that was created to help girls stay confident at that crucial age of life.
To help #EndPeriodPoverty, Always and Walmart are donating a year’s supply of period products to the girls on 50 teams across 50 states.
If you’re like me, you’ll want to do what you can to help girls just like those awesome girls in the video. To help end period poverty, you can share this Always Live#LikeAGirl YouTube video with others. It’s so important to spread this message and encourage others to help end period poverty.
Together, we are making life-altering changes in our local communities to make sure girls keep their confidence—at puberty and beyond. Do what you can to help – share this awesome video and let’s #EndPeriodPoverty.
Empowering young women, very inspiring.