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United Way Greater Victoria aims to fill bus with new menstrual products

The Period Promise seeks to help women in need
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United Way Greater Victoria staff, Heather Skydt (left), Kelly Binette and Gayle Nye, stand amongst a mountain of pads, tampons and other menstrual products collected during the Period Promise Fill the Bus event in 2019. (United Way Greater Victoria)

United Way Greater Victoria (UWGV) is campaigning for menstrual product donations for its upcoming annual Period Promise: Fill the Bus event.

For several years United Way has collected unopened boxes of menstrual products to be handed out at United Way funded agencies by filling a BC Transit bus with products.

“Periods are a fact of life, and monthly menstrual products are a necessity that many people can’t afford. Nobody should have to pick between feeding themselves and affording basic hygiene products,” UWGV said in an emailed statement.

ALSO READ: Period Promise fills a bus for women in need

According to recent surveys by Proctor and Gamble and the Period Stigma report, respectively, nearly one in seven Canadian girls miss school due to a lack of period protection, while nearly one in four Canadian women have struggled to afford menstrual products for themselves or their children.

This year the UWGV hopes to gather 100,000 individual items; in 2019 it collected 66,000 and in 2018 it collected 33,000.

Anyone interested in participating can bring unopened products to the Hillside Shopping Centre parking lot at 1644 Hillside Ave., near North Dairy Road on Saturday, March 7 from 11 a.m to 3 p.m.

vnc.editorial@blackpress.ca