Inspiring Conversations with Eva Marie Carney of The Kwek Society

Today we’d like to introduce you to Eva Marie Carney.

Hi Eva, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I started The Kwek Society in 2018 to get period supplies to Indigenous students and their peers after learning that up to 1 in 3 students across the United States miss school when on their periods because they suffer “period poverty” and most schools don’t stock sufficient supplies for all the students who need them. This made me very upset since I very much value education and also am big on fairness — and it’s only half the population that gets a period and has to pay the price for it. And I’m Indigenous myself — a citizen of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, living in Virginia. 

Jumping ahead to today, I continue to operate The Kwek Society, serving as its Executive Director, and we have a nine-person Board of Directors guiding our work, along with a number of lovely young women working for our organization part-time while still attending school. And as of today, we are supporting 120 schools and groups with period supplies — these partners are scattered across 14 U.S. states and Canada’s Ontario province. We provide new menstruators with our “moon time bags” — fabric envelopes lovingly sewn and stuffed with period pads and liners and gifted to us by community elders — and include with these bags a card that provides a link to traditional teachings about periods and womenhood that we share on our website (see kweksociety.org/traditional-teachings-2/). 

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Covid set us back a bit — we are, after all, focused on supplying students with period care items, and schools were shuttered. But we were able to get the items out to many students because of the ingenuity of teachers and administrators who distributed the items along with homework, school supplies, and breakfast foods, whether on school buses that stopped at students’ homes or through distribution sites set up on school property. 

We’ve been impressed with The Kwek Society, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We believe we are the only organization in the United States focused on getting period care to Indigenous students and community members, and their peers. Our message that periods are to be celebrated also sets us apart, and the lovely moon time bags we fill with supplies and distribute are unique to us — they can’t be bought in stores. We think they are very special. To date, we have distributed over 1.5 million period care items, reaching many thousands of students across North America. When we support a school, we insist that all students at that school in need of the supplies we furnish get all the supplies they need — we don’t just support the Indigenous students. 

A key point we want to stress to your readers is that “period poverty” is not an Indigenous problem — it is a poverty problem, but the systemic discrimination against Indigenous people, starting long ago with the U.S. government forcing many Indigenous people (including my relatives) into more remote parts of the country, creates more of a poverty issue and more need. “Period poverty” exists throughout the United States — in any school where some of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, one will find period poverty. Stocking school bathrooms and locker rooms with free period supplies is, in our view, the best way to address this in a way that maintains dignity and reduces period stigma. 

What does success mean to you?
Success is being able to reach back and help others who are struggling. I was able to get a terrific education — a bachelor’s degree and a J.D. degree — and have worked a lot of meaningful and often well-paid legal jobs. Using my legal experience to form a nonprofit and get us on a good path has helped others but also provided me many blessings. 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kweksociety.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thekweksociety/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KwekSociety
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evamariecarney/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/KwekSociety

Image Credits
The Kwek Society