News

Helping those in Period Poverty

23rd July 2017

In 2016 The Whitehawk Foodbank set up the Monthlies scheme in response to a comment made by a youth leader about the hygiene problems being faced by some of the girls in her group. This in turn led to bullying and was a direct result of having very limited access to sanitary products.

The foodbank received funding from The Homity Trust to create Monthlies packs. The goods are packed into a brown paper bag to hide the contents to avoid embarrassment and contain:

• 1 box of regular sized tampons
• 1 pack of normal towels
• 1 pack of night time towels
• 1 deodorant
• 1 pack of feminine wipes
• A large bar of chocolate

The system is regulated with a credit card-sized card which is kept by the young person and presented on a monthly basis and initialled by the distributor on the appropriate month. In addition, some form of hygiene advice and use of sanitary products is offered by youth leaders if required.

Packs can be collected from the foodbank centre, the church youth group or the local youth centre. They are labelled with The Trussell Trust More Than Food logo.

The scheme has attracted national press attention such as this piece in The Guardian and a more in-depth interview with Kate at the Foodbank on Radio 5 Live in June 2017.  Click the image below to view the video.

In addition, films such as I, Daniel Blake have helped to spotlight the problem.  Sadly the situation of period poverty doesn’t seem to be getting any better and schemes like ours are being created elsewhere in the country.

If you would like to support us in our work please visit the Give Help section of this website for details of how to donate goods and money.  Thank you.

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