The menstrual products dispenser in the bathroom of the Howard County government building took coins, not Apple Pay.

With no quarters in her pocket, 16-year-old Isha Ande had few options when her period arrived unexpectedly in the middle of a volunteer day at the George Howard Building in Ellicott City.

One wad of toilet paper and a call to Mom later, and Isha was back in business. But not everyone can summon a pad or tampon on demand — and that thought gave the teen an idea.

Anyone who gets a period has probably been caught without necessary hygiene supplies at least once. Public bathrooms often lack free pads or tampons, and asking around for a spare can be awkward or out of the question. Some who struggle to afford menstrual products might go without them to pay for necessities like food or bills. And advocates say that leads to missed opportunities in school, work and other moments in life.

It’s a cause that’s inspiring a new generation in Maryland to form after-school period clubs aimed at expanding access to feminine hygiene products. The Howard County school system has several, including the one that Isha founded at Mount Hebron High School after the volunteering incident a year ago.

Together, the teens are forming coalitions and lobbying local and state authorities to act.

When the Maryland General Assembly considered a law in 2020 to put free menstrual products in public school bathrooms, Howard County high schoolers traveled to Annapolis to testify about missing classes and AP tests because they didn’t have what they needed. The following year, legislators passed a law to put free menstrual product dispensers in all middle and high school women’s restrooms by August 2025.

Teens organized again this spring to expand access to Howard County’s other public buildings. They contacted County Council members and showed up to budget hearings to ask for dedicated funding to put free menstrual products in all county bathrooms.

“Making women pay for something they need, in my opinion, it’s diabolical,” Isha said. “[Menstrual] products are something we need to go through life. It’s not a luxury.”

County leaders went on to pass a budget without financing the teens’ request.

However, County Executive Calvin Ball reversed course this week, stating that government “is a place where every person should have access to the resources and health and wellness needs to thrive, including menstrual products.”

“After listening to the powerful testimony from our young people during our FY26 Residents’ Budget Hearing, we began exploring placing menstrual products across county government buildings,” Ball said.

He pledged that the county’s newly established Department of General Services will put free products in all government buildings by the end of the year.

In the meantime, the teens have been raising funds themselves. Isha and her period club peers Katherine Zheng, Srisha Rangini, Ahana Roy and Tanvi Anand applied for grants and gave presentations at local retirement homes to come up with $2,750.

The money, they said, was enough to put 500 pads and 1,000 tampons in each of Howard County’s public libraries, which rely on donations to supply menstrual products in all bathrooms.

“We’d never think twice about whether we provide toilet paper in a restroom,“ said Marcy Leonard, the library system’s chief operating officer. ”Why would we not provide menstrual products as well?”

The teens say the stigma around menstrual cycles is obvious. No one showed up to the first period club meeting at Mount Hebron, Isha said, even with the promise of brownies.

“Do you really have to be so loud about it?” Tanvi recalled thinking to herself when she heard about the club.

The 16-year-old soon changed her mind and joined.

“It teaches me how to speak up for myself,” she said.

Now, freshmen express interest in the club. And guy friends who seemed put off at first have seen the impact and offered to carry boxes.

The donations are a big help at the library system’s branch in Savage, where staff report needing to refill the plastic baskets that hold free tampons and pads daily.

The girls arrived at the Savage branch Tuesday morning wearing clothing in hues of red and pink.

They carried their donation to the toilet just past the conference room named for America’s first female astronaut, Sally Ride, whose male colleagues famously asked if 100 tampons was enough for her weeklong mission to space.

Ride spoke up and told them what she needed. And so, too, have the period clubs.

“Young girls shouldn’t be afraid to voice what they want,” Srisha said.