We are volunteers with a community-based initiative called the Red Box Project, which aims to support young people throughout their periods by providing free menstrual protection. We are started our project in Stoke Newington in February and we have quickly grown across north Hackney. We now have 60 boxes in 50 schools, colleges and youth clubs/ services in the area.

The project is a simple but effective scheme to provide young people with free menstrual protection if they cannot access their own. Every school that signs up to the free scheme receives a red box filled with menstrual items donated by the community to be kept by the School Nurse or other appropriate member of staff. Students can access this box at any time and take from it what they need - providing them with the reassurance that they will be protected throughout their menstrual cycle.

Halfway down inside of the box are our contact details so that when supplies fall below this level, a member of staff can either call or email us. The box is then replenished by us within 48 hours. This is a free service to any school who signs up with us and we will never let the box run out.

No tearful panics in the loo. No wadded up toilet roll. No missed lessons or staying at home. No anxious embarrassment. We believe that all women should be provided with the assurance that having their period is perfectly normal and that the comfort that menstrual protection provides is vital.

We need your help to meet the costs of running the project - our main cost is the red boxes themselves, but we also need to pay for black pants (we include these in the boxes in a variety of sizes), brown paper bags (so items can be taken from the boxes discreetly) and any menstrual items we need that aren’t available from our donated stock. We are also currently meeting the costs of storing your extraordinary donations of period products in a storage unit, having reached complete capacity in our homes!

As well as donating cash, we are of course reliant on generous donations of menstrual products from our local community and via our Amazon Wishlist without which we could not continue. Please do check out our Facebook page for more details of local donation points.

If you would like to help us by volunteering your time, we would love to hear from you!

Many thanks for your support!

Gemma, Elise and Eleonora, Coordinators of The Red Box Project Hackney North and Stoke Newington

email: theredboxprojecthackneynorth@gmail.com

Facebook: @RedBoxProjectHackneyNorth

Instagram: @theredboxproject_hackneynorth

Twitter: @RedBoxHackneyN