Astoria Students Ask City To Provide Pads, Tampons Amid Pandemic

ASTORIA, QUEENS — Two Astoria students are spearheading a campaign to get the city to provide menstrual products at the free meal hubs set up during the coronavirus pandemic.

Mya Abdelwahab and Nicole Soret, of the Young Women’s Leadership School of Astoria, are pressing the NYC Department of Education to distribute its supply of period products at the public schools where the agency is serving free meals to children and adults.

The mission of their initiative, called Femstrate, is to provide menstrual products like tampons and pads to people in need amid the spread of the new coronavirus — starting with the supplies the city's schools already have in their possession.

The New York City Council passed a bill in 2016 requiring public schools to provide free tampons and pads in restrooms, and a similar law went into effect statewide in 2018.

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"School is still in session virtually and the legal requirement to supply feminine hygiene products continues to be in effect," Abdelwahab and Soret wrote in an April 6 letter to Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza. "Students in need could pick up a free pack of 20 pads or tampons with their meals to support their monthly cycle."

New York State Assembly Members Cathy Nolan and Aravella Simotas and Congresswomen Carolyn Maloney and Grace Meng are among those supporting Femstrate, which is now raising money to buy and deliver period products to people who can't make it to the city's meal hubs.

"Part of ensuring students succeed and thrive during times of crisis means remembering and addressing the needs of students," said Nolan, who represents western Queens in the state legislature. "The need for these supplies does not stop, even when the City has to."

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