SUFFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Since the Community Resource Patio debuted last May, the people who operate the patio, the Friends of the Library and ForKids Suffolk, have learned about the "period poverty" being experienced by hundreds of women who visit it each month due to a shortage of feminine hygiene products.

The poor can drive or walk up to the pantry on West Constance Road to gather food for their families. The format is "take what you need, leave what you can—no forms, no questions."

Amanda Hayes, an assistant library manager for the Suffolk Public Library System, works at the patio and has seen firsthand the feminine hygiene product shortages that's currently affecting Hampton Roads' women. Hayes told 10 On Your Side she has labeled this phenomenon as "period poverty."

"Their period po

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