Period Poverty Awareness Week
Research by Plan International UK found that 49 per cent of girls have missed an entire day of school because of their period. 59 per cent of these girls have made up a lie or an alternative excuse to avoid going to school. Over the course of a year, 137,700 children in the UK miss school because of period poverty. A study for Menstrual Health Day found that 41% of 18 to 21-year-olds struggle to afford period products.
As part of Period Poverty Awareness Month, we kickstarted our campaign to be able to offer free sanitary products to guests at the centre. The Chimes understands the financial burden sanitary products can provide and as a centre we want to make sanitary products accessible for all. Visitors can find full packs of sanitary products by our customer service desk. All you have to do is ask for a ‘Parcel for Polly’, where a member of the team will discretely hand over a pack in a bag.
Alongside #ProjectPolly, we supported Trinity Homeless Shelter, by collecting Sanitary products for the Ukraine & Homeless appeal, posting our campaign across socials and website. So far we have collected over 200 packs of sanitary pads for the Charity. Trinity Homeless Shelter are incredibly thankful to The Chimes and have stated so far 63 families have benefited from our donations over the past 3 weeks.