Teen launches Period Product Partner to get more tampon dispensers in Windsor washrooms


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A local teen is taking her crusade to end “period poverty” to the next level with a non-profit organization aimed at stocking businesses across Windsor-Essex with free menstrual products.

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“Period Product Partner is not only ensuring that we are making as many establishments as possible equipped to deal with period poverty, so somebody who doesn’t have access to period products,” said Jada Malott, a Grade 12 student at St. Joseph’s Catholic High School. “But getting these products in the community and working toward that normalization of periods, and seeing these products in front of us, is going to help destigmatize periods. The stigma is the biggest and most difficult hurdle to knock down when it comes to eradicating period poverty in our communities.”

Malott launched Period Product Partner, which is working toward non-profit status, with a media event Wednesday at Harbor House Waterfront Eatery.

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Period Product Partner will provide menstrual products and a dispenser to any business that wants one. The cost of buying, installing and filling the dispenser for the first year is covered. After that, Malott said she will work out a monthly plan to pay for refilling the dispensers based on needs.

“We run 100 per cent off of donations and we don’t make any money off of the sales of our dispensing units or the period products after that one year of restocking is complete,” she said.

The main donors include Unifor Local 240, CUPW Local 630, CUPE Local 82 Women’s Committee, Windsor and District Labor Council, and the Unemployed Help Centre.

Period Product Partner is the latest in Malott’s ongoing efforts to end period poverty.

As a Grade 9 student, she started Tampon Tuesday in the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board’s secondary schools. The student trustee later convinced her school board to make the products available in all school washrooms at no cost.

Malott and her dad, Mike, then took the issue to Windsor city council, which approved a pilot project providing free menstrual products at six city buildings.

Go to pppontario.ca for more information about Period Product Partner.

Jada Malott, owner of Period Product Partner, displays her coin-free pad and tampon dispensers during a press event at the Harbor House, on Wednesday, April 27, 2022.
Jada Malott, owner of Period Product Partner, displays her coin-free pad and tampon dispensers during a press event at the Harbor House, on Wednesday, April 27, 2022. Photo by Dax Melmer /Windsor Star


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