Reusable and disposable products gifted

Friday 16 December 2022

School girls in year 6 and 7 are being gifted free sanitary protection - encouraging more to use reusable menstrual hygiene products as they grow up, while trying to prevent period poverty affecting our schools' pupils.

Guernsey's SHARE (Sexual Health and Relationships Education) team work with all local schools, and one aspect of their work is to educate all children about their bodies.

Now, with a donation from trust company Weighbridge Trust, the SHARE team will be able to provide reusable products to girls aged between 10 and 12 at local primary and secondary schools, while also investing in a supply of disposable products for all students who need them across schools and age groups.

A spokesperson for SHARE said they were delighted to receive the very generous donation from Weighbridge Trust Limited which will enable the team to continue to provide re-usable pads to students in years 6 and 7 as well as implement a new initiative which will see free, disposable, eco-friendly period products provided to all students who need them, via their individual school offices.

Kate Corcoran, Senior SHARE Educator, said the money donated will really help.

Pictured: Kate Corcoran.

“We are extremely grateful to Weighbridge Trust Limited for their donation which is much needed and is very timely considering the increases in the cost of living that everyone is experiencing at the moment.

"As an island, we need to ensure that none of our students are being held back from accessing education, or extra-curricular activities, due to their period. Having periods should not be a barrier to education for any learner. Providing free, eco-friendly menstrual products to all those who need them will ensure this doesn’t happen in the Bailiwick.”

SHARE first started its work on these projects in 2019, offering increasing supplies of, and a wider variety of choice in free, re-usable products since then.

Mrs Corcoran said that work can now continue and expand.

Previously, schools provided disposable products, to those who needed them, on an ad hoc basis and used their own funds to purchase them. Now these will be bought centrally and distributed by SHARE, using the donation from Weighbridge Trust, which is managed by CEO Matt Hemans.

“We are delighted to be part of SHARE’s initiative which we feel is such a worthwhile campaign run by a team deeply dedicated to their work," he said.

"Having committed to assist for three years, we hope this will be one of many public-private initiatives over the coming years, where companies can partner with the States to help support key objectives for the benefit of the Bailiwick”.