The Power of Partnerships

Counselor Kris King, Borah High School

One of the first schools we worked with to implement a pilot program was Borah High School in Boise. Our team started this program in September of 2022 and Borah's pilot began in January of 2023. Counselor Kris King was instrumental in helping us and has been instrumental as a sounding board since then.

SAALT, a local Boise company, "creates sustainable period underwear and reuseable period cups". They recently donated 500 pair of period panties to our team! In working through the best way to donate these panties to girls in need, I called Kris to talk it through. She gave me a list of local "high need" Boise schools that could greatly benefit from this donation, plus our team added a few more schools we know deal with period poverty in their communities. We will be sorting and donating these panties in the next few months.

Kris was also kind enough to share what this program has meant to Borah High and their students:

• Students who responded to our survey all said having products provided keeps them in school and feeling easier about it.

• I could have filled our products at least every other day because some people needed it just in the moment, but others may have needed more for home. 

• SNAP benefits don't cover non-food items and feminine products are expensive, so it is helpful to have them available. 

• Many families also access our pantry for non-food items, and I had a mom who saw me supplying our pantry and asked if she could also take some. 

• The Period Panties are such a great resource for lots of students, but our refugee population really also likes them because they are reusable and they may not use the products we use. 

• Having this in our schools has prompted our district to provide products now since they know how it has improved attendance and access.

Thank you, Kris, for sharing this perspective from someone who sees these needs daily and is helping make a difference.

Thank you, SAALT, for donating period panties. The SAALT website has a great comment that puts both our SW Boise Days for Girls and SAALT missions in perspective:

"We are on a mission to end panicked sprints to the bathroom, sweaters tied around waists, and sleeping on towels."