Free menstrual products coming to some U of C bathrooms this summer
Pilot program developed by sisters received funding for 3 years
Students at the University of Calgary will be able to access free menstrual products in a number of washrooms at the school thanks to a new pilot program.
Beginning this summer, products like pads, liners and tampons will be available in the most frequently used MacEwan Hall washrooms — including male, female and all-gender washrooms.
Sisters Jessica and Alicia Revington, students at the university, developed a grant proposal for the pilot project in 2018, after the students' union started a free menstrual program the year prior in order to address period poverty on campus.
"Period poverty is defined as a lack of regular access to products used to manage menstrual bleeding," said Jessica.
The sisters sought to expand the program, after it met with initial success.
"Our hope is that after this three-year pilot project ends, the project will still continue," said Jessica.
She says they are talking with the students' union to merge the two programs together and see that the expanded reach of the program continues.
The program received a little over $ 61,000 from the Students' Union Quality Money Program.
The pilot is set to be put in place this summer, ahead of the fall semester.
With files from Lucie Edwardson