High school students in city join forces for Tampon Tuesday
Local high school students joined forces and amassed more than 500 boxes of menstrual hygiene products in a friendly competition to collect donations, raising supplies and awareness.
“It makes me so happy that these students are willing to step out of their comfort zones and start up something that’s never happened before,” said Jada Malott, a Grade 10 student at St. Joseph’s Catholic High School. She helped co-ordinate the drive for Tampon Tuesday with Grade 12 Brennan student Mira Gillis.
According to a 2018 report from Plan Canada, about 23 per cent of women and nearly one-third of women under the age of 25 struggle to afford menstrual hygiene products.
To support those in need, local organizations and businesses accept donations for Tampon Tuesday, which has become a national campaign.
This is the second year the two city schools decided to stage the competition, collecting the 500-plus boxes between the two schools, along with $300 in monetary donations — with more to come from St. Anne, Holy Names and Villanova.
“Overall, having done it last year, there was really that community aspect that everyone wanted to help out,” Gillis said.
Malott said Tampon Tuesday also help initiate important dialogue. “It’s so heartwarming — not only seeing the collections that we get for the fundraiser but the conversations that it starts,” she said. “There’s nothing like having the boys talk about ‘did you know that one in three women in Canada cannot afford feminine hygiene products?’ ”
The fourth annual Tampon Tuesday event is hosted by United Way/centraide Windsor-essex County and the Windsor and District Labour Council at Kelsey’s Original Roadhouse on Walker Road. All products collected will be distributed to local women’s shelters and food banks.
Angela Kharboutli, United Way marketing and communications manager, said tampons and pads are often overlooked items when it comes to making donations — people think about food and other hygiene products like toothpaste or toothbrushes, but these products are still essential.
“They’re really expensive and women living in low income (households) are kind of sometimes forced to choose between food on the table or this type of necessity,” she said.