Intro
What Is The Red Box Project?
It is a national community organisation which puts donated sanitary protection into schools to ensure no girl misses school or suffers embarrassment because of her period. It is a simple scheme, made with love for the young women and has only been running in Rochdale since June 2018.
It is a project that is run off community kindness, we collect donations of sanitary products from members of the community, put them into red plastic boxes with paper bags, pants, and tights and then put the boxes into schools for disadvantaged students to access.
The project gives young women in need whether for financial or social reasons the reassurance of enough sanitary products for their entire period this is what makes it special.
We have over 440 boxes in schools across the UK. We are currently supporting young women in Rochdale in 3 High Schools and 1 Primary School and we are looking to expand on this however each school box must be sustainable, so we need various donation drop off points to support boxes and people who will kindly donate.
Each red box has approximately 30 packs of pads and tampons, plus some pants, tights, bags and posters to let the girls know about the project.
Red Boxes mean:
- No tearful panics in the loo
- No wadded up toilet roll
- No anxious embarrassment
- No missed lessons or staying home.
The project has been very well received by schools:
“In our school the red box isn’t just providing girls who need it with vital resources, it’s also taking away the stigma of periods. Our girls are no longer whispering “miss do you have some pads”. Our girls are not having to decide between buying lunch and sanitary protection. They feel loved and supported so if you have donated know that you have played a part in making a girl feel part of our sisterhood.”
It seems ridiculous that period poverty is happening on our doorstep, if lots of us pull together and each gives a little on a regular basis, we can quietly and firmly put an end to this problem.
There may be other ways you feel you could help and I'd be really happy to discuss these with you. If you have any further questions please do get in touch, your kindness does matter, anything you can do to help is appreciated, please spread the word and tell people about our project.
Thank you.
Anna Stokes
Volunteer Co-ordinator The Red Box Project – Rochdale