THE Red Box Project which provides young women with sanitary products is appealing for more support in Salford.

The Red Box Project is a community driven initiative which started in Portsmouth and seeks to provide free sanitary products to young women in local schools.

The project is set up across the country to ensure that girls do not miss school because of their periods and those in Manchester are located in Bolton, Grotton, Oldham and Bury.

Lisa Street, 34, from Bury is the project coordinator for The Red Box Project Bury which currently supplies sanitary products to four local schools.

She said: “At the moment, I have been trying to raise awareness of the project within the Bury community so I have been liaising with the school nurses team there.

“One by one I have been emailing and contacting schools informing them about the project and to see if they would like our support.”

Supplies from a collection point in Bury

Ms Street says that the main goal for coordinators is to make sure that supplies are readily available to schools who need them, and spreading the word to Salford is key in continuing these efforts.

The project works through donations from the local community in places such as gyms and doctors’ surgeries.

Ms Street explained: ” Inside a box there are sanitary towels, tampons and spare black knickers so the way we are trying to get those donations is through the community.

“We have got a number of drop-off points across Bury.

“We have had the most generous response from people coming forward asking to be drop-off points.”

A collection box at Evolving Fitness

Ms Street also hopes that spreading the project across Manchester and Salford will allow people to talk more openly about periods.

“There’s a non-spoken rule about how we don’t talk about it, but since the project I’ve been so much more open about talking about periods.

“The Red Boxes are starting to create a conversation and hopefully by placing these in schools we’ll start the conversation there, among the pupils in schools and among teachers.

“It would be great if somebody would like to take up the project in Salford, and if they do, get in touch with the Red Box Project HQ and they can send you details about how to get involved.

“You can do it as big or as little as you like, it’s all up to you.”

To get in touch with The Red Box Project, please visit their website.

For news, sports and travel updates, please visit Quays News.  

All images, including the featured image are used with the permission of The Red Box Project Bury and Lisa Street. 

 

 

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