Throughout Wake County, there are many individuals who are in need of menstrual products but do not have the means to obtain them. Period at NC State, a student organization focused on helping to spread awareness of this issue, is taking steps to help fix it.

On Tuesday, Nov 27, the group hosted an event known as a packing party. One of two packing parties held by the group each semester, they worked to put together packages of menstrual products to send out to people across the county that may need them.

Jackie Lanning, a third-year studying biology and the current president of Period at NC State, spoke about the event.

“We take the funds that we collect and the donations that we have and we create packages to give to homeless people, or just populations in need,” Lanning said. “The packages [from the event] are going to students in Wake County Schools who don’t have the funds to always get the products that they need.”

In total the group was able to put together 580 packages of menstrual products during the event.

Katie Cooper, a fourth-year studying social work, attended the event and spoke about her experience there.

“It was awesome,” Cooper said. “There were more people than I expected, and we had a ton of donations. It was nice how we could talk about periods, since they can be a touchy subject.”

Hannah Rich, a first-year studying engineering, also attended the event.

“It is nice to see a group of people who support a similar goal as me,” Rich said. “Period products aren’t as widespread as they should be, but it’s good to be able to give people access to it.”

Lanning also spoke some about the group and its mission.

“We’re a chapter of a nonprofit organization,” Lanning said. “We’re a student organization, and we help provide menstrual products to homeless populations in Wake County. We do a lot of fundraising events and we do events to start conversations to break the stigma around periods.”

The group has also works with other Wake County organizations, according to Lanning.

“We have connections with multiple organizations throughout Wake County,” Lanning said. “Our primary one is the Women’s Center of Wake County. We have also distributed to the Feed the Pack pantry, which is a resource here on campus, Urban Ministries [of Wake County], which is another huge conglomerate that provides a whole bunch of services for homeless populations, and InterAct of Wake County, which is the only domestic violence specific organization here in Raleigh. We try to distribute throughout the county, but we’d like to develop more strong partnerships and create this club as a sustainable solution to menstrual products.”

Delaney Jones, a second-year studying criminology, is a member of Period and spoke

“It feels really good to be able to help people out,” Jones said. “I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have anything for my period. It’s nice to be able to help out.”

Lanning also spoke about the group’s achievements,, as well as how far they have come in their one and a half years of operation at NC State.

“I’m really proud of the members that we’ve found,” Lanning said. “I feel really lucky to be able to work with the people we have. I was very nervous when starting this club on campus, wondering who was going to come to a club called Period, but we were really able to connect with people who understood that periods are a natural thing and that they deserve to [have access to products to] manage them.”

Students who are interested in getting involved with Period at NC State can learn more on the group’s Facebook and Instagram pages.