Stocking supply closets and running fundraisers are responsibilities of the new Honor Moon board members, following the graduation of the founders from Free State and Lawrence High last spring. Honor Moon, a non-profit organization and period pantry, has supplied period products to all of the local middle and high schools, as well as the pantries at the Douglas County Health Center and Heartland Health, since 2021.
The Honor Moon Director of Fundraising and Drives, junior Mira Edie, said she heard about Honor Moon through her sister’s friend, who helped found the organization. Edie said she was eager to join because she has always been interested in women’s rights, but Honor Moon has helped her better herself as well.
Honor Moon has been working to educate the public about the severity of period poverty, which is defined by the inability to access necessary menstrual products and education. Nonetheless, Lawrence High senior and Honor Moon President Ashlyn Tell said that
their pantry work has become the backbone of the organization and has been equally as impactful as their work to normalize menstrual health.
“Pantry work is not pretty. It’s not appealing. We’re fighting against the system that gives access to the privileged and leaves a lot of people feeling very hopeless when it comes to getting affordable products. But it is very meaningful,” Tell said.
Despite facing challenges like disregardance about the gravity of period poverty, the non-profit has gained substantial support. The current Vice President of Honor Moon, sophomore Ruby Fritzel, said that she has received positive feedback from students about supplying feminine products.
“So many people came up to support [the Honor Moon fundraiser], and it was just a really cool thing to see how many people in Lawrence knew about our organization,” Fritzel said.
The members of Honor Moon have spoken at various events, ranging from talking to senators in the Capitol to local students at middle schools. Tell said that they have been working to emphasize menstrual education and equity on the issue.
“Recently, we went into a middle school and talked to sixth grade boys about what menstrual health was and what menstrual equity was,” Tell said. “That’s the kind of change and the kind of work that we’re striving to do, because that’s how we bring awareness, is we talk to sixth grade boys and we introduce them to a topic that probably their parents and older generations did not hear about until adulthood and maybe still don’t know about.”
The Honor Moon board holds a busy schedule, speaking at events between once a month and once a week. Fritzel said that speaking
at these events has taught her many skills she would otherwise not have experience with.
“It’s definitely made me a better communicator and better at getting things done,” Fritzel said. “It’s also helped me see the challenges that women face and be more enlightened to it.”
Edie and Tell said they are both hopeful for a dedicated group of students for next year’s board members and are optimistic about their future.
“I hope that the board that comes along after we graduate continues breaking into this atmosphere and continues trying to do things that haven’t been done before,” Edie said, “And that we continue to try and obtain every goal that the founders set and that we set every day.”
