Lowcountry teen tackles period poverty with Z Pouch initiative for underserved communities

Zoe Levin is using her platform as Miss South Carolina Junior High School America to promote women’s healthcare in underserved communities and schools through the “Z Pouch” initiative. (Photo: WCIV)

(WCIV) — One Lowcountry teen is using her platform as Miss South Carolina Junior High School America to promote women’s healthcare in underserved communities and schools through the “Z Pouch” initiative.

Zoe Levin started the “Z Pouch” initiative with the goal of creating emergency period kits for women and girls in title one schools and low income communities.

“I mostly started because I know how hard it is to have your period in school and I have access to all the products I need. I can’t imagine not having access to those,” said Levin.

According to her, she has distributed over 1,200 Z pouches across nine different states, and they don’t plan to stop there.

Despite the initiative’s rapid growth, the pouches are all still assembled in Levin’s home and the products are all purchased either by her family or through local nonprofits.

Levin describes the response to the pouches as overwhelming, and the appreciation that she receives from the community makes the effort well worth it.

“Everyone really likes them because I feel like no one really does it and because there is so much stigma around period poverty and having your period in general, its a really big issue but not a lot of people want to help it,” she said.