Hey Girls is a multi-award winning period product social enterprise based in Scotland and Diss. Over the last few weeks, the team have donated over 22,000 period products to the Ukrainian relief effort – and a special shout out needs to go to a local removals company.
As the invasion of Ukraine unfolded, the team at Hey Girls, a buy-one, donate-one period product social enterprise, felt compelled to help. With dispatch hubs based in Diss and Scotland, they are experienced in getting vital period products to people that need it most. Since starting in 2018, they have donated more than 20 million period products to people facing period poverty in the UK.
They work with a network of 150 community groups – or, as they like to call them, donation partners – to donate their period products. These much-loved organisations, which include refuges, homeless shelters and food banks, work tirelessly at the front line to provide immediate support to people in need.
Three of their donation partners have been involved in providing essential items to people fleeing Ukraine at the Ukrainian borders. And the team at Hey Girls have been able to supply more than 22,000 period items in the last few weeks to the people of Ukraine through their partnerships.
These include Manchester-based period poverty organisation Don’t Cramp My Style; Freedom4Girls, a group that supports all people who menstruate; and Mill Bank Wellbeing Centre, a supported housing unit for homeless vulnerable families run by Places for People Living Plus.
Kate Smith, Co-Founder and Donations Manager at Hey Girls, says: ‘As soon as the situation with Ukraine unfolded, we knew we had to take action. It is hugely humbling to be able to provide our period products to Ukrainians in need. In a crisis, periods are often the last thing someone is thinking about, but you cannot stop the biological clock. To date, we have provided over 20,000 period products for the border relief effort, through some of our community donation partners and local action groups. There is still much more to be done. Our whole aim is to see period poverty completely eradicated. Access to quality periods products should be a right not a privilege; and more so in a humanitarian crisis.’
Established by Celia Hodson and her two daughters Kate and Rebecca as a kitchen table start-up after experiencing period poverty themselves, Hey Girls is now a community interest company that employs 18 people and operates across the UK with dispatch depots in Musselburgh, East Lothian and Diss – and with celebrity supporters including Michael Sheen and Caitlin Moran.
A special shout out needs to go to Colemans Removals and Storage, based in Diss, as five containers of essentials went out from companies, schools, supermarkets, and individuals from the local area, thanks to Colemans. Goods went directly to the Port of Felixstowe, before heading to Holland. They were then driven to the Poland-Ukraine border. The team at Hey Girls got their period products on the first container going to Poland and have so far donated twice.
Hey Girls produces environmentally friendly period pants, menstrual cups and sterilising pots, tampons, disposable and reusables pads and pantyliners.
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Hannah Cooke, who runs the donations department at Hey Girls in Diss, with some of the donations going to Ukraine (Picture credit: Rechenda Smith)
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