Share the Dignity calls for community support

NOT-FOR-PROFIT organisation Share the Dignity has launched its bi-annual Dignity Drive and is calling on the support of the local community.

Until the end of March, new and unopened pads, tampons, menstrual cups and discs, period underwear, reusable pads and inconvenience aids can be dropped off at pink collection boxes now located in every Woolworths store across the region.

All items received during the drive will be distributed to local community groups, domestic violence refuges, homeless shelters and other organisations supporting the community’s most vulnerable.

It comes as Share the Dignity celebrates 10 years of working to end period poverty across the country, but demand for support, founder and managing director Rochelle Courtney said, continued to rise.

“We’ve accomplished so much over the past 10 years and I’m so proud of the work that we’ve done, but there is still so much more to do,” she said.

“It is clear our work is more critical than ever, and more people than ever need our help.

“The cost-of-living crisis has placed immense pressure on vulnerable Australians, and we must rally together to ensure no one has to face period poverty alone.

“No woman, girl or person who menstruates should have to experience the indignity of having to substitute period products.”

Darian Brooker has experienced period poverty first-hand and, now an advocate for menstrual equity herself, speaks on the importance of access to period products.

“I would wear multiple pairs of undies and wrap up a huge amount of toilet paper to catch the school bus,” she said.

“I could have had the dignity in that situation to access the products that I needed without needing to ask anybody, and to also have had the opportunity to not bleed through and stain clothes.”

To find you nearest donation collection point, head to sharethedignity.org.au/dignity-drives