The Executive Director of the United Way Thompson Nicola Cariboo says the second ever period promise campaign is progressing well, even though they’ve had to change how they do things because of COVID-19.

Katie Neustaeter says like any number of issues, period poverty has worsened during the pandemic.

“What we really want to accomplish here is not just meeting the immediate need, but we also want to solve this systemic problem of why period poverty exists so prevalently right here in Canada,” she said.

“Twenty-five per cent of people who menstruate in this country can’t afford access to the products they need – that’s one-in-four – which is just a staggering statistic.”

Neustaeter says you can donate money online either through the United Way TNC website or the Period Promise website. You can also bring your donations to a drive-through event at the Kamloops Alliance Church on Friday, May 28 between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.

“Last year we had 43 businesses put boxes in their store windows and welcome donations of products for our period promise. This year, the response hasn’t been the same which is really reasonable,” she said. “People can’t have people bringing things in and dropping them off, so we just need to adjust a little bit on the fly.”

For more information, go here.

(Photo via United Way Thompson Nicola Cariboo)