On Oct. 16, Go With the Flow, a State College nonprofit organization that aims to address period equity in local schools, held a period-product bag packing event at the Makery. The event aimed to collect period products and work with the local community to pack the products into bags.
Vice President Isabel Olson described the overall motivation behind holding the event.“The mission of yesterday’s event, put very simply, is we wanted to pack bags. These bags are products that can be taken home for students that don’t always have access to period products at home,” Olson said. “But, on a more deeper level, the event was a great time to get the word out about our program, have people learn more about it, and to bring people together. It was great. It did a lot of fundraising, and we got a lot of bags packed. We also had a lot of fun time spending with a lot of friends and family and community members.”
At the event, students were given coloring materials to decorate paper bags and were instructed to put three tampons and three pads in each bag. Many students wrote funny or encouraging messages on their bags, hoping to brighten someone’s day. Social Media Director Sophia Reutzel described the messages on the bags and the motivation behind them.
“We had a lot of really supportive [bags] and we also had a lot of ones that were more goofy and I think would make me laugh if I was maybe having a down day,” Reutzel said. “I just hope that they can really maybe just maybe not even put a smile on your face, although that’s ultimately the goal, but just make you feel a little bit less alone.”
In total, 230 bags were packed during the two-hour event. These bags will be distributed to various schools in the district. President Ava Krebs shared how this process works.
“The 230 bags will be distributed to Mount Nittany Middle School, who relies on us for products at this moment, and also be located in our very own counselor’s office at the high school. So, if you are a State High student who does not have equitable access to menstrual products at home, you can always go to the counselor’s office and they will always have take-home bags ready for you there,” Krebs said.
Go With the Flow was founded in 2019 by former State High student Isabelle Snyder. With the organization, Snyder hoped to provide equitable access to menstrual products within State College schools as well as destigmatize the topic of periods. Krebs became involved in the club during middle school, with Olson joining during high school.
Krebs described Go With the Flow’s overall mission.
“Menstrual awareness and period awareness is something that our society struggles with some men and non-menstruators are afraid to even say the word period. It’s something natural. It’s something normal,” Krebs said. “And it’s something that as a society we need to work on because women’s issues and menstruators’ issues are human issues and everybody deserves the right to exist peacefully in their school space. So anything we can do education-wise or resource-wise to help aid that is Go With the Flow’s goal.”
While Go With the Flow’s support of the local community is at the heart of its mission, the community’s support of the organization plays a vital role in its success. Senior Aubrey Olson attended the event and attested to the importance of supporting community organizations like Go With the Flow.
“I think it’s really important to support our community and period poverty is a serious issue that affects a lot of people, but because periods are so stigmatized it doesn’t really get talked about enough, so I think it’s just important to be here,” Aubrey Olson said.
Krebs reflected on how Go With the Flow’s support of the community goes hand-in-hand with the support received from the community.
“Knowing that I’m doing something that directly benefits not just me, but the people that I exist around in our little State College bubble, makes me really happy and makes me want to strive for more and for better in places that I don’t exist. This year we’re definitely looking towards [expanding to] other school districts and I feel passionately about that because my community has allowed me to feel passionately about that,” Krebs said.
Reutzel commented on how community support played a specific role in Wednesday’s event.
“It’s so amazing that we had such a large turnout at the event [and] that we were able to collect so many products. It really is so amazing that we have the Makery that’s willing to reserve this space for us,” Reutzel said. “And even since the event, we’ve had people reach out interested in working with us, and it’s very exciting to see the passion that this community, like State College, and just broader Centre County has for this issue.”
Looking to the rest of the year, Go With the Flow hopes to continue expanding its impact, whether it’s by providing products to more schools or providing education about the intersection of periods and other topics.
Snyder attended the event and looked forward to the work that Go With the Flow will continue to do. “I am so proud to see how Go With the Flow is continuing, and I just am so impressed and inspired by the young women who continue to lead the charge and I can’t wait to see what they continue to do and how it continues to grow beyond all of us in the years to come,” Snyder said.
To stay up to date on Go With the Flow’s plans, follow their Instagram at @gowiththeflowsc. To become involved, reach out to [email protected] or [email protected] for more information.
