PITTSFIELD — On Saturday, generations of local girls and women toiled to assemble period kits.

It was a part of the Zonta Club of Berkshires County's Period Project, a twice-yearly drive the club organizes that produces hygiene kits for local schools and social service organizations. Vickie Palardy, a 20-year club member and Period Project chair, said the cost of menstrual products — which are generally not covered by SNAP or WIC — has become a growing barrier, which the drive hopes to break down.

Boxes of donated menstrual products await volunteers at the Zonta Club of Berkshire County's Period Project packing event Saturday in Pittsfield. The club spent $1,000 on supplies and accepted product donations to assemble 300 kits.

Each kit contains tampons, pads, personal wipes and, in some cases, underwear. Volunteers produced about 300 kits on Saturday.

Seven girls from the Rites of Passage and Empowerment program — which brings together middle and high schoolers — helped. For many of them, the work felt personal.

"School can already be stressful," said Cassidy Smith, 16, a student at Miss Hall's. "And then you add on the other layer of just having to deal with your own body."

"And you can't get an excused absence for it or anything either," added Gloria Williams, also 16, who attends Pittsfield High School.

Students described a patchwork of access across Berkshire County schools. At Taconic High School, products are kept at the nurse's office. At Herberg Middle School, a student said dispensers are no longer available in bathrooms.

Underwear and informational flyers from the Zonta Club of Berkshire County's Period Project lay on a table during a packing event Saturday in Pittsfield. The club's flyers read "All women deserve supplies. Period."

And at Pittsfield High School, 16-year-old student Anima Gyapong said the Rotary Club, which she and others at the drive are members of, has placed bins stocked with pads and tampons in classrooms, the library and bathrooms — but students refill them on their own, and they empty fast.

"We just notice," said Williams, sitting in a circle with her fellow student volunteers, Yaa Osei, 13, Wendy Agbemenyah, 14, Savannah Smith, 13 and Reina Jara, 16. "And then in our meetings, we'll dedicate time toward refilling."

When products aren't available, students said the fallback is asking a friend, or going without.

Zonta Club of Berkshire County President Jacqueline Melendez, left, works alongside a volunteer during the Period Project packing event Saturday in Pittsfield.

"It's a natural process," Cassidy Smith said. "Your body is healthy and doing what it should be. So it's frustrating when there's not stuff to support something that you have no control over."

Zonta Club President Jacqueline Melendez said a lack of access can have profound consequences.

"Girls stay away from school," Zonta Club President Jacqueline Melendez said. "They're embarrassed because they don't have the supplies. That's why advocacy and education are so important."

Palardy, who is a member of the club's board of directors and is a past president, said the Period Project's work is straightforward but essential.

Nationally, 2 in 5 people who menstruate struggle to purchase period products, according to the Alliance for Period Supplies. In Massachusetts, 1 in 9 women and girls between the ages of 12 and 44 live below the federal poverty level.

For some families, it comes down to a choice between groceries and hygiene, and girls who can't afford products may skip school rather than face the alternative.

Melendez said she sees the project as more than a supply chain. When she looks around the room at the younger volunteers, she sees something else taking root.

"This is a role modeling example," she said. "When they see the dedication of women doing this, what do you think will happen when they have young daughters? We don't need to forget about men, either."

Melendez, who is in her second year as president, said the girls from R.O.P.E have become a fixture at the event.

Volunteers with the Zonta Club of Berkshire County and the Rope mentorship program took part in the twice-yearly Period Project packing event in Pittsfield.

"Since I've been involved, her young women are always here," she said. "It's part of their DNA now."

Shirley Edgerton, who leads the R.O.P.E. program, said the partnership with Zonta has been on the calendar for four years running.

"It's important, women serving women," she said. "It provides an opportunity for them to give back."

Palardy said the club is in need of monetary donations year-round to support its efforts to ensure access to period products and has spent $1,000 on products this round, supplemented by donations. The club also maintains an Amazon wish list for product donations closer to packing events.

To donate to the effort, visit zontaberkshire.org and click on "service projects."