Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Mountain of menstrual products will help low-income women, girls

"This is a major way of helping with their dignity," says United Way organizer
Tampon Tuesday, United Way
Participants in the United Way of the Lower Mainland's Tampon Tuesday campaign hold up donated tampons, pads and diva cups at a wrap-up event at the United Way's Burnaby headquarters Tuesday.

Fewer low-income women and girls in the Lower Mainland will have to resort to shoplifting or using old rags or wadded-up toilet paper to meet their feminine hygiene needs thanks to a successful campaign led by the United Way of the Lower Mainland this month.

Tampon Tuesday is a nation-wide initiative to raise awareness about the barriers vulnerable women face accessing menstrual products.

During its second annual campaign, the Lower Mainland United Way once again encouraged people to donate tampons, pads and diva cups from March 6 (Tampon Tuesday) to March 20.

The mountain of donated menstrual products filled the lobby of the United Way’s Burnaby headquarters during a wrap-up event Tuesday.

Last year, the United Way collected 30,000 individual products. Organizers estimate that number more than tripled this year.

“We’re absolutely overwhelmed by this, and we are so thrilled to be involved,” said Neal Adolph, who coordinated this year’s campaign.

The tampons, pads and diva cups will now be distributed to the United Way’s partner organizations, including community schools, women’s shelters and refugee organizations, which will hand them out to women who need them.

Organizations that were on the receiving end of the donated items last year told the United Way the campaign has made a real difference to clients, according to Adolph.

tampon tuesday, united way
CUPE Local 402 first vice president Darcy McPartlin helps unload a truckload of feminine hygiene products donated by City of Surrey workers. - Cornelia Naylor

“They had people coming into their offices who had gone in and done shoplifting for the sake of getting product, people who are using unsanitary products like dirty clothing or old rags, people who are choosing between buying food for their family or buying product for their period,” he said, “so, for organizations that work with those communities, this is a major way of helping with the dignity of those individuals.”

CUPE Local 402 president Jeannie Kilby, who helped deliver a truckload of 4,000 tampons and pads donated by City of Surrey workers to Tuesday’s event, said the problem of access to feminine hygiene products for some women and girls hadn’t been on her radar until she got involved in the campaign last year.

“You don’t think about it. You just take it for granted,” she said. “We don’t really understand that this is an expensive product and it might be last on the list after groceries and rent for some people.”