By Ashleigh Fielding | posted on February 20, 2020
FOR most women, buying sanitary products is something they don’t give a second thought about.
They need them, so they buy them; if anything, they see them as just another annoying thing they have to add to the shopping list.
But for some women, buying these essential items is difficult – they can’t afford them, they have been prevented by others from buying them, or they have to forgo them for other essentials, like food.
Share the Dignity is a charity designed to aid girls and women experiencing homelessness, domestic violence or poverty by giving them sanitary products such as pads and tampons.
The organisation has an annual Dignity Drive for such products and the Albany drive starts next month.
“There are so many people using services like this in Albany,” Coordinator Trish Robinson said.
“I was contacted once by a school because a young girl had been using the same tampon for two days … the health risks associated with that are huge.
“I’ve heard of people using toilet paper or socks instead of sanitary products … and it’s not just young girls – there’s a whole generation of women out there without pads and tampons.
“That’s why it is so important that we can do this.”
The Albany Dignity Drive begins on March 1 and will continue until March 31.
There will be collection points for sanitary products – pads, tampons, incontinence pads, cups, and underwear – at various stores across Albany, including Woolworths, for that time period.
“We only ask for products, not money,” Ms Robinson said.
“And anything collected in the Great Southern stays in the Great Southern.”
