Riley Gaines Barker Is Linking Arms With EveryLife to Help End a Silent Crisis

There's a crisis happening in American schools that most people have never even heard of. It's called period poverty, and simply put, it means a girl doesn't have access to the period products she needs, like a pad, during her monthly cycle.

According to the 2025 State of the Period Study, 1 in 3 teen girls in the U.S. report missing class time because they lacked period products. Not because they were sick. Not because they overslept. Because they didn't have what they needed to get through the day with dignity.

It's easy to assume someone else has this covered. Surely schools have supplies on hand. Surely community organizations fill the gap. But for families already stretched thin by groceries, rent, and bills, period products are often the expense that quietly falls through the cracks, and the girl who needs them is usually the last one to say so.

From July 28 through August 3, EveryLife is doing something about it, and we're not doing it alone.

A Voice Who Knows What It Means to Fight for Girls

We're proud to share that Riley Gaines Barker is linking arms with us for this initiative. Riley has spent the last several years speaking out for women and girls, most known for her fight to protect fairness in women's sports. But as she's said herself, that fight was never really just about athletics. It's about making sure girls have every opportunity to succeed, to feel safe, and to know someone is willing to stand up for them when it matters.

This cause is a natural extension of that same conviction. As Riley put it:

"No girl should miss school because she doesn't have access to period products. That's a problem worth solving. And thankfully, it's one we actually can."

She also put words to something we hear constantly from our partners on the ground: that this issue hides in plain sight because it's wrapped in embarrassment. In her words, period products "are the difference between showing up and staying home... between participating in gym class, trying out for the team, giving a class presentation, or sitting on the sidelines hoping no one notices."

Having her stand with us on this doesn't just bring visibility to the cause. It brings a voice that's already earned trust speaking up for girls, now turned toward a need that's gone unspoken for far too long.

You can hear Riley discuss it with our founder, Sarah Gabel Seifert, in this interview, and see Riley's post on Instagram.

The Response: Buy For a Cause, One Week Only

For one week only, July 28 through August 3, every Buy For a Cause purchase is being directed toward a special period care drive. A $50 gift provides a 4-month supply of EveryLife Women organic cotton pads for a teenage girl in need, right here in the United States.

Every gift is delivered through our partners Convoy of Hope and CityServe, getting these products directly into the hands of girls in need through local school nurses and churches, coast to coast, from big cities to the rural communities most often overlooked.

This isn't an ongoing program. It's a focused, one-week response to a problem that has waited long enough, and it's built to be simple: no complicated asks, no waiting on anyone else to solve it. Just a $50 gift standing between a girl and four months of showing up to school without one more thing to worry about.

How You Can Help

• Give. A $50 gift provides four months of period care for one teenage girl in need. [Give at EveryLife.com/BuyForACause.]

• Share. So many people don't yet know this is happening in our own communities. A simple share can be what reaches the person who's never heard of it.

• Pray. For the girls this will reach, for the families quietly carrying this need, and for a day when this is no longer a silent crisis in America.

Riley isn't the only voice joining this cause. Influencers Isabel Brown, Allie Beth Stuckey, and Baylee Christophel are helping spread the word this week too. And a number of businesses and organizations are linking arms with us as well, including A'Del Natural Cosmetics, We Heart Nutrition, Counteract USA, Natan, and America's Christian Credit Union.

We're grateful to have Riley, and so many others, standing with us this week, using their voices for a cause that deserves to be heard. Join us, July 28 through August 3, at EveryLife.com/BuyForACause.