VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A Virginia Beach teenager is taking meaningful steps to make changes in community access to menstrual products, and now she's won a Girl Scout Gold Award for her efforts.
Riley LeBlanc is a senior at Tallwood High School in Virginia Beach and a Girl Scout Ambassador for local Troop 293.
Her service project, “Ending Period Poverty," was designed to help women across the globe find the feminine hygiene products and education they need when it comes to their reproductive health, especially in countries that have experienced recent difficulties.
“I addressed period poverty through two Days for Girls workshops as well as an Amazon Wishlist supply drive where I collected new underwear and period products. During the workshops, we sewed 138 transport bags and put 61 Days for Girls kits to send to Ukrainian refugees," LeBlanc said.
The University of Michigan defines period poverty as "the prevalent phenomena of being unable to afford products such as pads, tampons, or liners to manage menstrual bleeding."
A further study by the school found that in 2020, one in five girls missed school due to a lack of access to the products they needed.
LeBlanc also wanted her mission to extend into the Hampton Roads area.
With help from her mentors and Troop, LeBlanc donated nearly 700 pairs of women’s underwear and 300 feminine care products to Days of Girls and the Samaritan House in Virginia Beach.
She also helped create a Girl Scout patch program to help local scouts learn more about service projects they can do to reduce the unmet need right in their own neighborhoods and schools.
