Students from the International Baccalaureate diploma programme at Bishop Macdonell Catholic High School collected products for The Period Purse, a project that provides people experiencing marginalization with access to free period products.
After learning about how expensive and in need period products are, Vanessa Marsili and Korina Poljak, grade 11 students in Bishop Macdonell’s IB diploma programme, sought out organizations who solely focus on providing period products to those in need.
“We searched online for foundations that we could do a drive with and donate to and Period Purse was perfect,” shared Marsili. “The Period Purse strives to achieve menstrual equity by providing people who menstruate with access to free menstrual products, and to reduce the stigma surrounding periods through public education and advocacy.”
As a non-profit organization that collects donations or in-kind products and distributes them to those who need it, the Period Purse really became a great organization for the women to share with their classmates.
“I think it is important for people to know about the struggles women in poverty face, specifically their struggle to get menstrual products because I'll be honest I didn't even know about the term ‘period poverty’ until Vanessa and I started researching it,” shared Poljak. “All in all, it was important to us to not only physically help people who are dealing with these struggles by donating them these items, but to also educate people around this issue and to address the stigma surrounding periods themselves.”
In addition to the drive, Poljak and Marsili spent time educating their peers on period poverty, hanging up posters around the school, posting to school’s Instagram, sharing through the school’s announcements and even speaking on BM News.
“After a couple days into the drive we had a few of our friends from our IB class go to all the first period classes and also talk about these issues. At the end of the drive we took all the boxes home where Vanessa and I will count them, sort them, and then drive them to a warehouse where they'll be picked up by Period Purse and delivered to those who need it.,” said Poljak.
For Marsili, learning about the stigma resulting from misinformation about menstruation that has unfortunately led to feelings of shame for women, it was important for her to provide support to vulnerable individuals.
“Stigma and misinformation can be even more detrimental to financially or emotionally vulnerable individuals,” said Marsili. “Every day there are people who have no choice but to resort to using makeshift pads and tampons or prolonging their use of period products – all leading to risk of infection that can even be fatal. At the end of the day menstrual products are a necessity and people should not be struggling to gain them based on their financial status and stability. Therefore, it is so important that we collected products to help those who unfortunately endure this struggle.”
While the drive has now come to an end, both Marsili and Poljak hope to continue to support The Period Purse with a drive next March and then passing on the torch to students to host once they have both graduated.
“We are so happy and proud to be a part of something that is going to make a difference and truly help people. Even if we are only reaching people within a few cities around us, this is still a global issue, and we are grateful for the opportunity to work on changing it,” said Marsili.
To learn more about The Period Purse or to support the organization, please visit https://www.theperiodpurse.com/.