Meadow Lake business a drop-off point for menstrual product drive

A lack of household staples can be a regular occurence in the North, but a lack of female hygiene products can be life-altering for women each month. Fortunately, a volunteer-led organization is changing that with regular donations.

The Saskatoon-based Moon Time Sisters began with Nicole White, when she and a group of friends heard young women in Northern Saskatchewan were  missing school because they didn’t have proper access to menstrual products.

“The initial goal was to try to send product to five different communities,” she said. “When everyone started to pitch in, it became something much bigger, so we ended up collecting over 95,000 products that we sent to 15 different northern communities in Saskatchewan.”

One story from last year’s campaign touched White, when one woman burst into tears after receiving her products.

“She’d never actually had products for her period, and had just been washing socks over and over again,” she said. “It’s one of those humbling things. The fact that we can make their lives easier, but also for them to know there are sisters across the province who want to help them.”

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White said she received positive responses from across the province to all the way across the continent.  

Jennifer Voth and Jillian Doucet, who work at the Abundant Living Health Store in Meadow Lake decided to become a drop off point for the project a few days ago, and the response has already been strong.

Voth said it was a no-brainer to get involved.

“I didn’t know this was such a great need, and I thought it was something we could easily do here,” she said. “We’ve been a drop-off point for other donations when there were fires in the North. This is our backyard, these are our neighbours, and it’s our job as humans to help.”

Doucet also approached a number of local businesses, and said she was blown away by the response so far.

“Almost all of the businesses that I approached are willing to donate,” she said. “It’s a cause that everyone’s happy to get behind — people helping people. Kindness has a ripple effect. At the end of the day, periods suck, and if there’s something you can do to make it a little easier for somebody, this is a really easy way to do it.”

Collection will take place until the end of March, and the products will be delivered in early-to-mid April.

kathy.gallant@jpbg.ca  

On Twitter @ReporterKath