Shawnee Public Schools
Jefferson, Sequoyah, Horace Mann and Will Rogers Elementary Schools, and Shawnee Middle School
Shawnee, OK
Shawnee Public Schools is a district of 4,000 students in grades PK-12 and eight school sites. It sits about 40 miles to the east of Oklahoma City and borders a number of Native Nations, including the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. In September 2019 we supplied all Shawnee Public Schools students in the 4th through 6th grade with moon time bags filled with pads and liners (that’s almost 600 bags!) and offered April Stobbe, a dedicated Shawnee School Board member interested in making sure all students have access to the supplies and period education information they need, best practice guidance, and titles of period education books we provide to our partner schools. Ms. Stobbe followed up by founding a nonprofit organization, Shawnee Alliance for Period Supplies (SAPS). With the support of the schools’ superintendent, Dr. April Grace, period supplies now are in the restrooms at Shawnee High School and SAPS supporters are making their own version of moon time bags for Shawnee Public School students.
In December 2020, we used funds granted by The Sparkjoy Foundation to purchase $3,000 in period supplies (over 18,000 pads and tampons) for Shawnee Public Schools students. Richard Driskell, who oversees Shawnee, Oklahoma-based Firelake Discount Foods graciously sold the period supplies to us at cost. We continue to supply Shawnee students as our funding allows; we were gratified to receive from the Citizen Potawatomi Nation in early 2022 an annual funding commitment supporting our efforts.
The Kwek Society has been a game changer for many of our students. Because of The Kwek Society’s donation of feminine hygiene products and moon time bags, our students no longer have to worry about not having the supplies they need during their menstrual cycle. Sometimes the lack of enough hygiene supplies kept students from attending school regularly. We are grateful that the Kwek Society has given the young women in our district the confidence and security they need to be successful at school.
Shawnee Public Schools students showing love to The Kwek Society by posing with our moon time bags.
Thank you so much for helping my students to have much-needed menstrual supplies. Most of the girls live in poverty and truly appreciate having these products available for them at school.