LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – Gov. Andy Beshear signed a proclamation on May 5. It officially marks May 11-17 as Period Poverty Awareness Week in Kentucky.

According to a fact sheet from Alliance for Period Supplies, one in five women and girls in Kentucky between the ages of 12 and 44 live below the federal poverty level. Nationwide, two out of five people who get periods struggle to afford period products.

Skylar Davis founded Period Y’all in 2022. Since then, the organization has been fighting to end period poverty in the Commonwealth. Davis said the group has installed free menstrual product pantries in seven Kentucky counties.

That includes Letcher, Madison, Garrard, Jessamine, McCracken, Jefferson, and Washington County.

Davis said recent cost increases have left many with a difficult choice.

“Choosing between period products and feeding their kids,” Davis said.

Davis said many have had to skip work or school because of a lack of resources.

But through her organization’s work, she’s able to make a change.

This week alone, they were able to give out more than 19,000 free period products.

“Anything that we can do to raise awareness about this experience and help alleviate this is monumental,” Davis said.

Emily Yonter, creator of the more than 60,000 member Ladies of Lexington Facebook page, has noticed the problem too.

“We get tons of requests, pretty much daily, of women in the area needing period products,” Yonter said.

That’s why she and other members of the group launched “The Pink Box” last week on West Sixth Street downtown, right across from Coolavin Park.

Yonter said it’s simple to use. Anyone can open the door, take what they need and leave what they can.

“It’s time to start being more direct and be more hands on with the community,” Yonter said.

“We’re just really grateful that the community wanted to help us make it happen and that so many women in ladies of lex donated,” Yonter said.

Both groups rely on the community to keep these pantries stocked and they hope to open more pantries in Kentucky.

Ladies of Lexington is accepting monetary and supply donations. They also are now selling merchandise, and that money will go towards buying period products.

Period Y’all has an Amazon Wishlist and monetary donation link for anybody who’d like to donate.

On this date in history:

In 1792, 24 brokers met in New York City and formed the New York Stock Exchange.

In 1875, Aristides was the winner of the first Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

In 1943, the Memphis Belle became one of the first B-17 to complete 25 missions in World War II, securing the plane and crew’s reputations as rockstars. The plane was the subject of a documentary at the time and a film about the crew was made in 1990 starring Matthew Modine, Eric Stoltz and Harry Connick Jr. Ten days after the 25th mission, the pilot, Capt. Robert K. Morgan and co-pilot, Capt. James Verinis, met the king and queen of England, to whom Morgan explained the origin of the plane’s name.

In 1954, in a major civil rights victory, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kan., ruled unanimously that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.

In 1970, Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl set sail from Morocco in a papyrus boat called the Ra II, modeled on drawings of ancient Egyptian sailing vessels. His mission was to prove his theory that ancient civilizations could have sailed to the Americas. He arrived in Barbados 57 days later.

In 1973, the U.S. Senate Watergate Committee opened hearings into a break-in at Democratic National headquarters in Washington.

In 1987, two Iraqi Exocet missiles hit the frigate USS Stark in the Persian Gulf, killing 37 seamen. Iraq apologized for mistaking the ship’s identity and the Stark’s top officers were reprimanded and retired.

In 1989, 1 million people demonstrated for democratic reforms in Beijing. The number of students fasting to support the drive reached 3,000.

In 1999, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lost his bid for re-election when voters chose Ehud Barak, head of the center-left Israel One coalition, to succeed him.

File Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI

In 2004, Massachusetts became the first state to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

In 2005, Los Angeles voters elected Antonio Villaraigosa as the city’s first Hispanic mayor since 1872.

In 2007, the United States’ “minority” citizenship topped the 100 million mark, about one-third of the total U.S. population, the U.S. Census Bureau said. Hispanics made up the largest group, ahead of Black Americans, 44.3 million to 40.2 million.

In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court banned the sentencing of a juvenile to life in prison for a non-homicide case, calling the practice unconstitutional, and cruel and unusual punishment.

In 2018, the Senate confirmed Gina Haspel to be the first female director of the CIA, ending weeks of speculation over whether her past role in using torture as an interrogation technique would derail her nomination.

In 2019, Taiwan became the first Asian nation to legalize same-sex marriage.

In 2025, two people died after a Mexican navy training vessel crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City. The collision caused the ship’s three masts to snap.

File Photo by Dean Moses/UPI