Scheme in Spalding to reduce ‘period poverty’

Schoolgirls in Spalding could soon find sanitary pads, tampons and other period necessities in school toilets as a project to reduce those affected by period poverty reaches the town.

The Red Box Project organises donation boxes and brings the filled boxes to schools and youth groups where girls find it difficult to buy or access tampons and sanitary pads.

Jean Stutt suffered from period poverty when she was a young mother and works with the project to raise awareness of the issues young girls face.

Jean (49) said: “Back in the early 1990s, I was living on benefits for a couple of years and after I paid household bills, I did not have a lot of money left. There were occasions where I only had a few pounds left and it was my time of the month.

“The toss-up was buying food for children or sanitary protection. There was at least one occasion when my son could not go to school because I could not afford sanitary protection.”

Jean stressed period poverty was not just about not being able to afford products but also the inability to access the necessary items.

She continued: “One woman told me she lost her mum quite young and when her periods started, her dad did not deal with it at all.

“This young lady lived in a rural Lincolnshire village with no bus, no shop. If she did not have pocket money and could not get into the nearest town, she went without sanitary pads.

“Period poverty can be lots of things, including just not being able to access sanitary wear for any reason. As we’re losing village shops and bus routes, some girls may find it extremely difficult to access pads.”

TiptoToe, a beauty salon in Spalding, recently joined the list of places the period products could be donated.

Jackie Wareing, a beautician, was shocked to discover how much of a problem period poverty is becoming.

She said: “We thought it was something we should get involved with because we are all women and we get a lot of female clients.

“We did not realise how much was going on and how unrecognised period poverty was. One of our clients asked if we would be willing to have it in the shop and we were really keen to help. It has been with us for a week and got a great reception.”

Sam Mackay works with the Red Box Project in Spalding and Boston and explained that schools with the boxes feel relief that staff no longer need to pay out their own money to help embarrassed students.

A spokesman from a school Sam works with said: “In our school, the red box is not just providing girls who need it with vital resources, it is also taking away the stigma of periods.

“Our girls are no longer whispering ‘Miss, do you have some pads?’ Our girls are not having to decide between buying lunch and sanitary protection.

“They feel loved and supported so if you have donated know that you have played a part in making a girl feel part of our sisterhood.”

To find out how to get involved, visit http://redboxproject.org