Initiative fills a gap for women and girls

By Andra Moss

An increasing number of families in the Northwest Corner are turning to local food pantries to help fill the gap for basic necessities as rising prices stretch many budgets to the breaking point. The variety of offerings can be limited, though. Clients visiting the Norfolk Food Pantry, however, will soon find some important essential items—tampons and menstrual pads—on its shelves, thanks to problem-solving volunteers from the Women & Girls Fund. 

Based in Torrington, the fund runs under the umbrella of the Northwest Connecticut Community Foundation. “Women & Girls has been around for 25 years,” says Jennifer Pfaltz, Norfolk resident and secretary of the fund’s executive committee. What began as a small giving circle established by women with a shared concern for the needs of women and girls in their communities is today a fund powered by over 600 supporters helping women develop economic self-sufficiency. Funded projects include training for women re-entering the workforce, educational scholarships and support for many components of the nursing program at Winsted’s Northwestern Connecticut Community College. “Our mission is to invest in the power of women and the dreams of girls,” says Pfaltz.

The Personal Products Program at the Norfolk pantry, housed in Battell Chapel, is a new initiative. Pfaltz recalls that she “looked at some of the smaller food pantries locally to see what they needed and found this gap in support.” Investigating further, she read a 2021 Harvard University health study in which 64 percent of women surveyed admitted they had difficulty affording menstrual products. The study referred to this as “period poverty” and noted that many benefit programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), can’t be used to purchase menstrual supplies. “These products are an expensive, ongoing need,” says Pfaltz. “I also learned that girls may not go to school or work because they don’t have products.”  

Acknowledging the seriousness of the problem, in 2022 the Connecticut General Assembly passed new legislation requiring public schools to supply a range of menstrual products for students in third through 12th grades. Access to feminine hygiene products remains an issue for many women, however, and Pfaltz was determined to address it locally.

Armed with data and a welcoming partner in the Norfolk Food Pantry, she applied to a private donor organization for a grant to organize a personal products initiative via the Women & Girls Fund. The funding was approved “with tremendous enthusiasm,” says Pfaltz, and the program is nearly ready to launch.

She invites local women and girls to join her at the Norfolk Hub on Wednesday, Aug. 14, at 6 p.m., for a “packing party” to assemble feminine hygiene packets. These will be added to the pantry shelves, where women and girls can easily take what they need. Pfaltz says that the pantry will track how many people access the products and whether they are for themselves or other women in their households. 

This feedback will inform the project’s next steps. “We’re going to start with period products and see what the need is,” she says. “This will be something of a pilot project to see how the initiative works and whether it can be expanded to other areas.”

Pfaltz notes that she hopes that the effort will have the added benefit of increasing the visibility of the work of the Women & Girls Fund so that “other organizations can learn about all our grants or women can join us as volunteers or committee members.”