UI Pre-Med Student Distributes Free Menstrual Products Across Iowa

PHOTO COURTESY MAANYA PANDEY

Five years ago, as a Waukee, Iowa, high school student, Maanya Pandey learned about women in prison who lacked adequate access to menstrual hygiene products and education. She soon discovered the problem didn’t end there, but that period poverty affects millions worldwide.

“The issue doesn’t just impact one kind of person; it’s everywhere,” says Pandey, now a University of Iowa College of Public Health pre-med student who is directly addressing the issue.

In 2020, Pandey started Love For Red, a nonprofit whose mission is to end period poverty through service, advocacy, and awareness. Since its founding, Love For Red has donated more than 285,392 menstrual products to 149 organizations in Iowa, including food pantries, public libraries, and community centers. Most notably, it has helped 118 elementary, middle, and high schools across 49 school districts supply their restrooms with free period products.

Pandey says that with rising demand for its services, Love For Red has had to create a wait list. The nonprofit regularly raises awareness for its cause at the Iowa State Capitol, with an advocacy day in Des Moines planned for April 8. While Iowa does not tax period products, Pandey hopes the legislature will follow in 25 other states’ footsteps to provide free period products in schools. “Love For Red’s goal is to keep going until we don’t have to exist,” says Pandey, who graduates this spring.

For more information, visit Love For Red’s website.