Period products are a necessity.
Get them stockedPicking up where you left off.
We'll find contact info for key decision-makers at your school and check if your state already requires free products.
School not in the list (middle school, private, outside the US)?
Go and check every bathroom
Walk three or four bathrooms and write down, for each one:
- Is there a dispenser or a basket at all?
- Is there anything in it right now? Pads, tampons, or both?
- Is it free, or does it take coins?
- Is there one in the all-gender or accessible bathroom too?
- What's the closest place you'd actually get one? (nurse, office, a friend)
You want a sentence like “five of six bathrooms have a dispenser, and zero of them had anything in it.” That sentence gets a supply order written. “There are never any” doesn't. Come back and pick whichever of the four above matches what you found.
Survey your friends so you can prove you have a problem. It asks three things: how often the bathrooms actually have products, whether the conditions make it harder to focus, and whether stocking them would help. Forty answers turns a favor into a budget line.
It opens in Google Forms as your copy, under your account. Nothing you collect comes to us, and responses are anonymous unless you change that. Hit Send inside Forms to get the link you'll share in the next step.
Group chats, your story, the people you sit with at lunch. Everyone, not just people who get periods — the numbers land harder when the whole school agrees.
Paste your form link where the message says to. 20 responses is enough to argue with; more is better.
These are the plays that work for your situation. Do more than one — they stack.
Put the ask on the principal's desk, with the numbers
Principals say no to complaints and yes to plans. This email has your survey numbers, what you counted in the bathrooms, and a specific ask that costs a few dollars per student per year. Send it, then ask for ten minutes in person.
Email template — Free period products in the bathrooms at [school name]
Dear [Principal's name], I surveyed [#] students at [school name] about our bathrooms. [A]% said the bathrooms rarely or never have period products. [B]% said the bathroom conditions make it harder for them to focus during school. [C]% said having products stocked would make them more likely to focus, engage and succeed in class. What I'm asking for: free pads and tampons stocked in [every student bathroom / the bathrooms nearest the main hallways], including the all-gender and accessible ones, refilled on the same schedule as toilet paper. Toilet paper and soap are free because you can't plan when you need them. This is the same thing. The cost is a few dollars per student per year, and there are nonprofits that will supply a school for free — I can send you the list. Could I get ten minutes to walk you through what I found and how other schools have set this up? With hope and gratitude, A student at [school name]
Get them on the supply order, not just donated once
One person at the district orders every roll of toilet paper in your building: the facilities director, or the director of buildings and grounds. If period products aren't on that order, every dispenser eventually goes empty, no matter who donated the first box. This is the email that makes it permanent, and almost nobody ever sends it.
Email template — Adding menstrual products to the restroom supply order for [school name]
Dear [Director of Buildings and Grounds], I surveyed [#] students at [school name] about our bathrooms. [A]% said the bathrooms rarely or never have period products. [B]% said the bathroom conditions make it harder for them to focus during school. [C]% said having products stocked would make them more likely to focus, engage and succeed in class. I'm writing to you rather than only the principal because you're the person who decides what goes on the restroom supply order. Could pads and tampons be added to the standing order for [school name], and the dispensers put on the same check-and-refill round as toilet paper and soap? If cost is the issue, I have a list of nonprofits that supply schools for free or for shipping only, and I'm glad to send it. I'm also happy to walk the bathrooms with you or with our custodial staff any [day of the week]. With hope and gratitude, A student at [school name]
Get the products for free
“There's no budget” is the most common no, and it's the easiest one to beat. Choose one of these options for providing free products.
- PERIOD. chaptersstudents
A youth-led nonprofit with about 150 school chapters. Two students and an adult advisor start one; chapters can request product shipments to hand out locally. Applications open in windows (summer and winter) — check the page, or email chapters@period.org. - Alliance for Period Suppliesschool nurse or counselor
The national network the brands donate through (U by Kotex is its founding sponsor). A school can't apply to the Alliance, but a nurse or counselor can register the school as a distribution partner with the nearest local period bank. Use the locator, or dial 211. - I Support the Girlsschool staff
Ships donated pads and tampons to organizations that distribute them; schools are considered case by case. The school pays shipping only. - Aunt Flow advocacy kitstudents
Aunt Flow sells the free-vend dispensers most schools end up installing, so it's a budget line rather than a freebie — but its student toolkit (a one-pager for admin, an objection guide, a cost calculator) is free and good. - August Advocatesstudents
Students nominate their school and the school buys at wholesale. Not free, but cheaper than a dispenser contract if you only need a basket program stocked. - Justice Necessary grantColorado schools
Free dispensers plus cases of pads and tampons for Colorado schools. The cycle for each school year opens around January.
Email template — Could you sign [school name] up for free period products?
Dear [School nurse's name], I'm working on getting free pads and tampons stocked in our bathrooms, and admin's answer so far is that there's no budget. It turns out the supplies can be free — but the programs need a staff member to register the school, and I think that's you. Two that work: the Alliance for Period Supplies has a local period bank near us that schools register with as a distribution partner (allianceforperiodsupplies.org/allied-programs, or dial 211), and I Support the Girls ships donated products to schools for the cost of shipping (isupportthegirls.org/get-involved/request-products). Would you be willing to submit one of those, or let me help you fill it out? I surveyed [#] students at [school name] about our bathrooms. [A]% said the bathrooms rarely or never have period products. [B]% said the bathroom conditions make it harder for them to focus during school. [C]% said having products stocked would make them more likely to focus, engage and succeed in class. With hope and gratitude, A student at [school name]
The zero-budget fix: a basket in every bathroom
While admin thinks about dispensers, students can stock the bathrooms this week. A club, a team, or you and four friends run a drive, keep a labelled basket in each bathroom and refill it. It works, it's visible, and it makes the permanent version impossible to argue against — because the school has already had it for a month and nothing bad happened.
Ask permission before you put anything in a bathroom, and say who refills it. “Who maintains it?” is the question that kills this otherwise.
Email template — Can students stock the bathrooms with free period products?
Dear [Principal's name], I surveyed [#] students at [school name] about our bathrooms. [A]% said the bathrooms rarely or never have period products. [B]% said the bathroom conditions make it harder for them to focus during school. [C]% said having products stocked would make them more likely to focus, engage and succeed in class. Instead of asking for money, I'm asking for permission. [Club or team name] will run a product drive and keep a labelled basket of free pads and tampons in each student bathroom, checked and refilled [twice a week] by [names]. We'll take it down any time you ask. What we'd need from you: an OK to put the baskets in, a word with custodial staff so they know what they are, and permission to put up a small sign. Could I get ten minutes to explain how it would run? With hope and gratitude, A student at [school name]
Give students a way to say "it's empty" the moment it is
An empty dispenser stays empty because nobody who can fill it knows. The cheap version fixes that in an afternoon:
- Make a copy of the form and strip it down to: which bathroom, what's empty.
- Print a QR code and tape one next to each dispenser — ask first.
- Turn on email notifications so every response lands with whoever restocks. Google Forms does this for free.
Keep a visible “reported → refilled” tally somewhere. The thing that kills a reporting system is people deciding it goes nowhere.
Email template — A free way for students to report empty dispensers at [school name]
Dear [name], The pad and tampon dispensers at [school name] are usually empty, and there's no way for a student to tell anyone — so they stay that way. [A]% of the students I surveyed said the bathrooms rarely or never have products in them. I'd like to set up a simple form students reach from a QR code by each dispenser, with responses emailed straight to whoever restocks. It costs nothing and I'll build and maintain it. Could we talk about whether that's something you'd support, and who the responses should go to? With hope and gratitude, A student at [school name]
End the walk to the nurse's office
Keeping the products in the nurse's office means a student bleeds through, leaves class, walks across the building, explains themselves to an adult, and walks back. That's ten minutes of class and a lot of dignity for something that should take thirty seconds. The fix costs nothing today: move the same stock to where it's needed.
Interim version while the dispensers get sorted: a labelled basket in each bathroom, restocked from the nurse's existing supply. Ask the nurse first — they're usually the person most on your side in the building.
Email template — Moving period products from the nurse's office into the bathrooms
Dear [Principal's name], I surveyed [#] students at [school name] about our bathrooms. [A]% said the bathrooms rarely or never have period products. [B]% said the bathroom conditions make it harder for them to focus during school. [C]% said having products stocked would make them more likely to focus, engage and succeed in class. Right now the only way to get a pad or tampon at [school name] is to leave class and ask at [the nurse's office / the front office] — which is exactly why students say the bathrooms make it harder to focus. I'd like to propose the simplest possible change: the same products, kept in a basket or dispenser in each bathroom instead of behind a desk. [Nurse's name] already stocks them; this just moves where they live. Could we start with [the two most-used bathrooms] and see how it goes? With hope and gratitude, A student at [school name]
Set the coin dispensers to free
Most coin-operated dispensers can be set to free-vend — it's a setting or a cheap conversion kit, not a new machine. That makes this the smallest ask on the page: no purchase, no installation, just a work order. Ask for it separately from everything else so it can't get lost in a bigger no.
Email template — Work order request: set restroom dispensers to free-vend at [school name]
Dear [name], The pad and tampon dispensers at [school name] take coins. [#] of the [#] I checked were jammed or empty, and nobody carries quarters — so in practice they don't exist. Most dispensers of this type can be switched to free-vend, or converted with an inexpensive kit. Could a work order be put in to set ours to free, and to add them to the regular restocking round? I surveyed [#] students at [school name] about our bathrooms. [A]% said the bathrooms rarely or never have period products. [B]% said the bathroom conditions make it harder for them to focus during school. [C]% said having products stocked would make them more likely to focus, engage and succeed in class. With hope and gratitude, A student at [school name]
Optional, later Get the custodians on your side
You don't need this to send the emails above. You will want it the week the dispensers get installed, because custodians are who restocks them, and a dispenser nobody refills is the situation you started in.
No script needed. First time you pass one: “Hey, how are ya?” Second time, learn their name. Third time, ask:
- Do they already stock any period products, and who orders them?
- How often do the bathrooms get checked and refilled?
- Is it a supply budget thing or a schedule thing when a dispenser runs out?
- What would make refilling one more thing on their round, not a chore?
Whatever they say goes straight into your follow-up emails: “custodial staff told me they're happy to refill if the products are on the order” is the sentence that closes this.
You emailed, and weeks went by. The board is where this stops being a thing your principal can sit on: public comment goes in the minutes, and the minutes are public forever. What you need is your survey numbers, the dates you emailed people, and two minutes at the microphone.
It opens as a printable page with your survey numbers, what the law says, your ask, who you've already contacted, and where the products can come from for free. Save it as a PDF: that's the handout for board members and the attachment on the follow-up email.
Before you go
- Check your district site for the public comment sign-up. Most need you to sign up in advance and cap you at 2–3 minutes.
- Tell your principal you're going, and why. A board that hears it from a student and sees the principal already knew is far more likely to act than one that thinks it's being ambushed.
- Bring friends, including people who don't get periods. Hand your one-page summary to board members on paper.
Public comment — two minutes, read it out loud first
My name is [your name, or "I'm a student here and I'd rather not give my name"], and I'm a [grade] grader at [school name]. I surveyed [#] students at [school name] about our bathrooms. [A]% said the bathrooms rarely or never have period products. [B]% said the bathroom conditions make it harder for them to focus during school. [C]% said having products stocked would make them more likely to focus, engage and succeed in class. Toilet paper is free in every bathroom in this district because nobody can plan when they'll need it. Pads and tampons are the same, and more than twenty states have already written that into law. I brought this to [principal's name] on [date] and to [district contact] on [date]. I'm asking the board to [your ask: direct the district to stock free menstrual products in every student restroom / add them to the standing restroom supply order / set a date by which every school in the district has them]. Thank you for your time.
Email template — Following up on menstrual product access raised at the [date] board meeting
Dear [Board member or clerk], Thank you for hearing my comment at the [date] meeting about access to period products at [school name]. I wanted to follow up in writing with the data I referenced. I surveyed [#] students at [school name] about our bathrooms. [A]% said the bathrooms rarely or never have period products. [B]% said the bathroom conditions make it harder for them to focus during school. [C]% said having products stocked would make them more likely to focus, engage and succeed in class. Attached is a one-page summary of what I'm asking for, with the nonprofit programs that would supply the products at no cost to the district. I'd welcome the chance to discuss it at a future meeting, or with district facilities staff directly. With hope and gratitude, A student at [school name]
Still nothing? Reach out to us: we can help with funding, navigating school politics, and changing school culture.
Email template — Student at [school name] — need help getting period products stocked
Hi Ben, I'm a student at [school name]. I need help with [what you need: funding / talking to admin / getting other students on board / something else]. I'm stuck on [what's blocking you right now]. So far I've [what you've already tried, if anything]. Thanks, [your name]
there are no pads or tampons in our bathrooms and i'm doing something about it
this is a 1 minute anonymous survey about period products at our school. i'm taking the results to admin, and if they don't do anything, to the school board.
[paste your form link]
fill it out even if you don't get a period. every response is one more reason they can't say it's just me asking.
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Email template — Student at [school name] — need help getting period products stocked
Hi Ben, I'm a student at [school name]. I need help with [what you need: funding / talking to admin / getting other students on board / something else]. I'm stuck on [what's blocking you right now]. So far I've [what you've already tried, if anything]. Thanks, [your name]