CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Miles don’t matter when you have the drive that comes from the heart.
“It takes a community to do this work. So, I’m just one person. With one car for now,” Tashina Figueroa laughed.
Figueroa is the founder of the Charlotte-based nonprofit, Girl Flow.
“We hear it all the time, school supplies, school supplies. Help Title I schools with school supplies. Well, menstrual products are school supplies. That’s what the youth need,” she stated.
The nonprofit offers education, support, and menstrual products to girls. Figueroa along with volunteers drives to different counties within the Charlotte metropolitan area.
“We currently serve Mecklenburg County, Gaston County, (and) we are out in Lancaster County. If I have to come to you to bring the service to you then that is eliminating a barrier,” she shared.
Girl Flow partners with Title I schools and organizations to make sure teen girls have what they need.
“In our bigger packets we have three pads, three wipes, three liners, and a wonderful inspiration card,” she mentioned as she pulled out a period kit.
Figueroa says started the nonprofit back in 2015. It was formerly known as Covered Girls.
Several years in, she decided to change the name and expand her reach.
“A lot of these families have multiple children in the home. So, you have multiple girls in the home who need these products on a monthly basis. So, yes, they are expensive,” Figueroa explained.
According to data from the Alliance for Period Supplies, right now, 20 states, including North Carolina, charge sales tax on period products.
This month, South Carolina lawmakers voted to end its so-called “Tampon tax.”
Data from the Alliance for Period Supplies shows one in four people struggle to buy period supplies.
“People are trying to figure out how to budget and how to maintain what they have. So, we will be scaling up. I would love to serve more schools,” Figueroa shared. “It’s a bittersweet thing. I know that the need is there, but I only see it getting bigger.”
Over this past quarter of the school year, she said they have given out more than 3,000 menstrual products to young girls.
Girl Flow is now working to help girls in Cabarrus and Union counties.