Homewood High School has recently sponsored the addition of feminine product dispensers to multiple bathrooms around the school. 

The urgency for these dispensers became clear to principal Dr. Joel Henneke in the fall. A strong advocate for all students, he has been working with the company Aunt Flow to get dispensers up and running as fast as possible. This women-owned business provides schools with the resources they need to provide feminine hygiene supplies.

“This experience should be normalized,” he said. It is nothing anyone should be scared of talking about.”

Marin Poleshek, a senior, first brought this proposal to Henneke earlier this year. Over the past year and a half, she has been working alongside Heritage Panel to help improve the supplies and access to feminine products at HHS.

“I hope Homewood continues this, and that it will encourage the middle school and surrounding schools to do the same,” she said.

Before the dispensers’ installation, Heritage Panel made efforts to supply hygiene projects around the school through Project., which organized a feminine product donation system to benefit HHS students. This project was largely supported by sponsor Melissa Dameron-Vines.

“This is a necessary step for all the women and girls in our school,” she emphasized. “We have the access to do it, so why would we not?”

Ultimately, the goal of this project is for girls and women to have access to products at any time and place to eliminate stress about finding what they need at the moment.

The new dispensers can be found in the bathrooms by the back office, media center, fine- arts wing, lunchroom and freshmen hall. Project. will continue to supply product bags in classrooms and has its sights set on expanding its mission to support students with financial needs.