This Texas teacher is helping make her students’ menstrual cycles a little easier

By Sara Smart, CNN

This Texas teacher’s goal is to provide everything she can for her students — and that includes pads and tampons.

As an eighth grade teacher in Austin, Kylie DeFrance’s students are between the ages of 12 and 14. This is the time that most girls start their menstruation cycle, according to The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Remembering what it’s like to go through this phase herself, DeFrance began thinking of ways she could make it easier for her students, she told CNN.

“I want to provide them with what they need, whether that be a pencil or a tampon,” DeFrance said.

“A lot of these scholars go home and are the parent to their siblings, and maybe can’t go to the store that day,” she continued. “Or, they can’t afford the pad or tampon that would be best for them, or maybe they don’t have a good relationship with their parents.”

Her school provides only one type of pad, DeFrance said, so she began purchasing pads and tampons to give her students more options. She soon became the go-to teacher for all things menstruation.

But her new initiative came at a cost: DeFrance says she found herself spending upwards of $100 a month on feminine products.

In January, she decided to post her Amazon wish list, full of menstrual products, to her neighborhood’s Nextdoor page.

A few weeks later, boxes began pouring in, filling up her front porch. Sometimes postal workers would come twice a day to drop off packages.

“I thought two or three boxes would come in,” DeFrance said. “My community blew me away with how much support they provided.”

Since then, DeFrance has tried to keep track but says she stopped counting after 300 boxes. She estimates more than 4,000 boxes of pads and more than 3,000 boxes tampons have been donated so far.

Products aren’t the only thing she’s received: comments and messages from single dads and other teachers have also filled her inbox.

The fathers have expressed their gratitude towards her and are thankful that their girls have a female teacher who is willing to help them, DeFrance said.

Students are just as appreciative. Most have even grown more comfortable talking to her about their needs as they’ve gotten to know each other, she said.

The abundance of donations has given DeFrance the chance to provide other seventh and eighth grade teachers at her school with their own stash of supplies for students — which she calls a “period box.”

Months in, support isn’t slowing down, DeFrance said; she has products shipped to her home every day.

Her goal is to build a “menstruation station” in the school bathroom so all students can have easier access to stock up.

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