Over 30,000 period products donated across the East, thanks to new campaign

Hey Girls are working with the Co-op to ensure that community centres are better stocked with these sanitary products

Laura Sutton, Jackie Mayes, Rubi Begum
Author: Tom ClabonPublished 7th Oct 2023
Last updated 9th Oct 2023

A campaign to help tackle 'period poverty' has seen over 30,000 products be donated across Norfolk, Suffolk and elsewhere in the East of England

The charity, Hey Girls are working with the Co-op to ensure that the retailers employee bathrooms and community centres are better stocked with these sanitary products.

Hey Girls operates on a “buy one, donate one” model – meaning every purchase made by its commercial partners is matched with a donation to organisations such as food banks, homeless shelters and refuges.

Organisations throughout the East have joined a network of more than 350 nationwide in benefitting from similar partnerships.

"One step closer to improving period dignity"

Daisy Williams, Partnerships and Contracts Manager at Hey Girls

“We are thrilled to see the East of England Co-op join the wave of retail businesses introducing period dignity schemes for their staff.

“Having access to free period products can be the difference between a normal day at work and the worst day of your career – and costs nowhere near what you would think.

“Partnerships like this bring us one step closer to improving period dignity and eradicating UK period poverty – so it is brilliant to have such a big local name on side.”

"It’s incredibly important to us that we do what we can"

Andy Rigby, Chief Operating Officer for the East of England Co-op, said:

“More than 50% of our team here at the East of England Co-op are female and it’s incredibly important to us that we do what we can to support our colleagues.

“We’re proud to be working with Hey Girls, not only to provide free period products for our teams but also for our local communities.

“This is a really important step for our co-op and we’ll continue to look for more ways that we can do the right thing for our colleagues and our communities.”

Among the local community partners to benefit from the new partnership is Inspire, a Suffolk charity empowering young people to achieve a better future.

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