BURSTGroups in 11 northern BC communities have received menstrual products for distribution from this year’s United Way Period Promise campaign.
The groups included the Ksan Society in Terrace which has taken deliveries of menstrual products since 2019.
“Often, menstrual products don’t come to mind when folks are considering donations to the Ksan Society and campaigns like this help us stock our shelves and help those experiencing period poverty,” said Ksan executive assistant Kylie Nelson.
“These products are distributed across all of our programming, regardless of the demographics served,” she said.
Groups in Houston, Fort St. John, Fort Nelson, Prince Rupert, Dawson Creek, Chetwynd, Burns Lake, Hazelton, Vanderhoof and Prince George also received products.
In all 37,000 menstrual products were distributed in the north, collected from companies and groups supporting the campaign and from manufacturers of menstrual products.
The United Way campaign’s goal across B.C. was 525,000 products and it exceeded that goal by collecting and distributing 570,000 products.
This year more than 120 organizations collectively reported a need for seven million menstrual products for an estimated 162,758 people, the United Way stated in a release.
Lorna Bihori, who is the United Way’s Prince George-based northern campaign manager, said communities received products based on location, size, availability of products and cost.
“We first designated our smaller communities because of the fact they end up paying larger amounts for the product and we try to look at price comparisons as well,” she said.
“In larger places you can go to places which might have a dollar store so you can make your budget go a little bit farther but in smaller communities you have fewer choices of brands and variety of product.”
The Period Promise emerged not only as an issue of affordability but also awareness of a natural bodily function, Bihori continued.
Having menstrual products available in remote work locations has also emerged as an issue with the growing number of women in trades and related work forces.
Centerra Gold which runs the Mount Milligan gold mine northwest of Prince George signed a Period Promise policy with United Way three years ago.
“They supply product on-site to those who have forgotten to bring them because it’s all about ensuring their workforce has dignity and feels secure to work,” she said.
“There’s very rarely any workplace that I go into that doesn’t have product there for their staff,” Bihori added.
Within the campaign, Tampax and Always were large manufacturer suppliers while three shipping companies, Bandstra, Rosenau Transport and Overland West delivered to the communities.
Kylie Nelson from Ksan said it also receives donations from Food Banks of Canada and the BC Society of Transition Houses.
“While we don’t do specific donation campaigns on our own, if our supply runs low of any essential item, we post to our social media accounts to engage our community,” she said.