Professor Rita Haase and student Jada Malott are heading a campus effort for Tampon Tuesday. Donors of menstrual hygiene products will enter a prize draw for one of 20 gift cards.
Anyone can suffer from “period poverty,” says Jada Malott.
That’s why the second-year law and politics student volunteers for Tampon Tuesday, an annual drive by the United Way and the Windsor and District Labour Council to collect menstrual hygiene products for those in need.
But, Malott says, the collection is just part of the effort: “We work to educate people about this issue of health and justice.”
She is heading up a campus effort to support the campaign, soliciting donations from faculty, staff, and students — and offering a prize draw as an incentive. Volunteers will staff a booth in the CAW Student Centre from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on three dates: March 6, 7, and 11.
“Supporters will receive a raffle ticket for each box of menstrual products — pads, tampons, panty liners, or other — they contribute,” says Malott.
Sponsored by the University of Windsor Alumni Association, the draw will award eight $100 gift cards to the Campus Bookstore, six $50 Starbucks cards, and six $50 Tim Hortons cards.
Professor Rita Haase’s course “Women’s Bodies, Women’s Health” includes a unit on menstruation. Malott took it last semester and spoke to her classmates about her activism.
“The class addresses the stigma and the taboos around menstruation,” Haase says. “Period poverty is a huge injustice towards every person that menstruates and a major problem in Windsor and worldwide.”
Those unable to bring products can donate online at www.weareunited.com/tampontuesday.