You'll never complain about having your period again after reading this.

No woman should suffer the indignity of having to choose between eating or buying sanitary products.

Woman living on the street. Image: Nationswell.com

It was an article posted by Mamamia earlier this year that prompted two Brisbane mothers, Heather and Rochelle, to start up their own charity business, Share the Dignity, to help women living on the streets.

There are currently 105,237 people living in Australia who are homeless. Of these people, 44% identify as female. While the male population of the homeless community is higher, when it comes to women, there’s something else they have to deal with on top of all their other struggles, their period.

In March of this year, Heather and Rochelle banded their community together, collecting over 400 pads and tampons. After distributing them throughout their local community they sent the remaining sanitary items to Vanuatu to aid with disaster relief.

Brisbane Mothers Heather and Rochelle. Image: Share the dignity faceook page.

“Our aim is to provide homeless and at risk women nationally with sanitary products to allow them a sense of dignity at a time when they need it most. No woman should suffer the indignity of choosing between eating or buying sanitary items,” Rochelle explained.

They were soon approached by women’s shelters in Australia and eventually they ran out of sanitary items to give away, which inspired them to expand their charity further, with their second collection date on the 1st of August aiming to collected over 10,000 pads and tampons, from over 500 locations in Australia for women living on the streets.

“As we have found out at that time of the month the homeless women tend to wear dark bottoms and really do make their own make shift pads from either rags or paper towels. Using public bathroom facilities to clean themselves up,” said Rochelle.

“It is our responsibility to change this. If I had of known about this 20 years ago I promise we would not be having this conversation now.”

Rochelle and Heather take the sanitary items to women’s shelters, where they are distributed to the women in need. Rochelle says that there is a direct correlation between domestic violence/mental health and the rise in homelessness, which is unfortunately affecting a lot of youths and older women.

“It is such a sensitive issue for most of us who have a warm bed, hot water bottle and an endless supply of Nurofen and sanitary items to see us through our dreaded time of the month,” said Rochelle.

“It is our responsibility to change this. If I had of known about this 20 years ago I promise we would not be having this conversation now.”

Heather and Rochelle believe that it’s important to get schools involved with this cause. As mother’s themselves, they hope to educate their daughters towards being empathetic when it comes to homeless people and showing them compassion and respect.

“We would like to see schools organising a ‘Pad drive’ NOT a ‘Pie Drive’,” said Rochelle.

Rochelle recalls a story from one of her clients, Sue, who used to work as a security guard for a department store. She said that homeless women used to come inside the store early in the morning, as it was warm. One day, she saw one of the women stealing a box of pads. Sue then saw that her dress was blood stained and there was blood dripping down her leg. This was one time that Sue decided to turn a blind eye.

44% of homeless people in Australia are women. Image: Southerntierhomeless.com

Which is less dignified? Stealing sanitary items or not having any at all?

“Our team leader in Norther Territory talks about women in Darwin using petrol stations to clean themselves up and staff there are also turning the other cheek as sanitary items are stolen,” said Rochelle.

“We are so grateful that women across Australia are becoming more aware of this now and Share the Dignity.”

It’s a problem that most people wouldn’t have thought about. It’s a problem that we can do something proactive about. It’s a problem that we can fix.

If you would like to support Share the Dignity, you can contact them on sharethedignity@gmail.com to organise a collection bin for your office.

#News