Free the Pad

The Free the Pad project was started in 2016 by Maya Gomez and Willa Driscoll in an effort to make menstruation a less taboo subject. The project aims to make menstruation products more accessible for people who need it in Medford High School during the school day. They first met with the Medford Public School’s Board of Health. From there, they moved forward and put a small box of pads in the second floor C building bathroom. They were met with a lot of positive reactions from students describing how their project helped them in period emergencies!

During the 2017-2018 school year, they expanded their project with ten separate boxes of pads in different bathrooms. They want to focus on giving free menstrual products to people of all backgrounds, including those from low-income families or non-binary students like transgenders that menstruate. Menstruation is a natural occurrence that so many people face; it should not be something that anyone has to hide. Their next steps are to get the pads approved within the school budget.

Project done by Maya Gomez and Willa Driscoll