{"id":29299,"date":"2021-05-14T00:13:48","date_gmt":"2021-05-14T04:13:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=29299"},"modified":"2021-05-14T00:13:52","modified_gmt":"2021-05-14T04:13:52","slug":"student-steps-up-to-help-local-food-banks-address-period-poverty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/student-steps-up-to-help-local-food-banks-address-period-poverty\/","title":{"rendered":"Student steps up to help local food banks address \u201cperiod poverty\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s an issue that not many people talk about, let alone young people, but Country Day School student Neyla Kirby hasn\u2019t been afraid to tackle the issue of \u201cperiod poverty\u201d head-on, and has mobilized her peers to help make a difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neyla, a Grade 12 student, has been working tirelessly to underscore the cost of \u2013 and sometimes lack of access to \u2013 feminine hygiene products both around the world and here at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through her Social Justice Club, she has been leading efforts to collect and purchase tampons, pads, and cups for food banks in Aurora, King and Vaughan, breaking down stigma along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is an issue that is not really talked about,\u201d said Neyla of what led her to want to address period poverty from a local level. \u201cA lot of organizations are working on it in Toronto, based downtown, and seeing how so many people have been financially affected by the pandemic, it is insane how nobody is really working on it around me. If you\u2019re in a low-income family or anyone who has a tight budget right now, it is definitely hard to afford those products and spend $30 – $50 a month depending on if you have daughters or it is just yourself. The organizations working on it now in Toronto are amazing, but I had women in my area in mind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neyla was initially hoping to do a period product drive at her school, similar to a food drive, where the needs of local food banks were identified allowing students to answer the call, whether in the from of gift cards, financial donations, or the products themselves. They have had to change the execution somewhat due to present circumstances, but they are no less determined to forge ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSpeaking to a few of the local food banks, I asked them if they needed tampons, pads or period cups \u2013 and even what sizes they need, and a lot of them just said, \u2018Whatever people can donate.\u2019 Before I started this project, I didn\u2019t even think of the fact that homeless women, or even low-income women, needed the products. It doesn\u2019t really cross your mind if there is a supply drive for a food bank to bring in pads and tampons, so I think there is a little bit of a stigma surrounding menstruation, which is one of the biggest issues for food banks to get the supplies they need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you have a large number of people who just kind of avoid the topic of menstruation, these food banks are not really getting what they really need. I think the stigma around periods is one of the things stopping these women from getting essential supplies and they are either uncomfortable donating the products or people don\u2019t even know there is an issue there and women actually need these on a monthly basis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far, the response has been very positive. With the money donated, Neyla and a teacher plan to purchase the necessary period products in bulk \u2013 and she will be busy at home transforming some of them into personalized \u201cperiod packs\u201d for the women who will be on the receiving end of these donations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt one of the food banks I talked to, they were so excited when I told them we were going to be making little packages with a letter and a piece of chocolate and although I know I won\u2019t be able to see the women actually pick them up, I just think they are going to be able to enjoy that and know that people are thinking about them and they are not being overlooked. I think that is just going to make me really happy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe main thing for me is the fact when there is something you don\u2019t know all that much about, or even if you\u2019re not a woman or you don\u2019t menstruate, it is just so important to educate yourself and then also do as much as you can to support people who are struggling, whether or not you can relate to those struggles. I think it is really important if you are in this position to help people do everything you can to make that possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong>
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/em><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s an issue that not many people talk about, let alone young people, but Country Day School student Neyla Kirby hasn\u2019t been afraid to tackle the issue of \u201cperiod poverty\u201d head-on, and has mobilized her peers to help make a difference. Neyla, a Grade 12 student, has been working tirelessly to underscore the cost of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":29280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/2021-05-13-02.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-7Cz","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-14 13:48:05","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}