Free sanitary products on offer from Wolverhampton service
A period poverty charity has continued its work to provide schoolchildren with free sanitary products during the coronavirus pandemic.
Project GIVE is running a free service for students at high schools across Wolverhampton who are unable to access sanitary products such as tampons.
The project was able to begin the service after receiving a grant of £59,429 from the National Lottery Community Fund.
The grant helped Project GIVE to invest in hundreds of eco-friendly sanitary products from the buy one, give one company Hey Girls, with co-founder Kelly Walker-Reed speaking about how the project works.
She said: "When someone calls us, they will be offered a full choice of plastic-free and eco-friendly sanitary products.
"With the schools, we simply send a three-month supply of sanitary pads for every single child who menstruates, with a leaflet inside for them to contact us for alternative products."
Kelly said the use of plastic free products fit the ethos of Project GIVE of being eco-minded.
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She said: "We were given enough funds to be able to go for those higher end products, which just goes hand in hand with what we do and what we feel about being eco-friendly.
"It's nice to be able to turn the tide and help to reduce the amount of plastic waste from sanitary products that goes to landfill every year from every person who bleeds."
Kelly also said that while the current funding was only a six-month coronavirus-contingency grant, the project was working to keep supplying and run new projects in 2021.
She said: "We do have a few ideas in the pipeline to give this project some longevity and allow us to keep supplying.
"We also want to start our eduction programme in the new year and help young people with something that is often overlooked."
The service can be accessed by texting PERIOD to 07368443207, with a confidential call then being made to talk about the products on offer.
