After hearing stories of people using rolled up toilet paper and hand towels to manage their periods due to poverty, national charity Share the Dignity established the Pink Box Dignity vending machine program.
As part of the roll out, Share The Dignity contacted council to include a machine in our area. Ladies can now discreetly access a free period pack from the accessible toilet at Goulburn Mulwaree Library, 184 Bourke Street.
Each pack contains six tampons and two pads, with the machine programmed with a delivery delay of 10 minutes to ensure that no period packs are wasted.
“We were excited by the opportunity to host a Pinkbox at the library when Share the Dignity contacted us,” said Library Adult Programs and Outreach Officer, Susan McIlroy.
“The library is a welcoming space that is open to all, so those needing discrete help managing their period can easily access the Library to get the assistance they need using Pinkbox.”
The library is also open on weekends, during school holidays, and after 5pm, meaning that it is available when other locations and services are not.”
The aim of Share The Dignity is to ‘end period poverty’, and works with commercial organisations and the wider community to encourage sanitary item donations to share with those who can’t afford them.
Share the Dignity believes access to sanitary items is a right, not a privilege and no one should ever have to choose between eating and taking control of their period.
36,500 Australian women and girls face the hardship, danger, and emotional anxiety of being homeless or experiencing poverty, as well as the discomfort and lack of dignity that comes with having their period whilst struggling to afford menstrual care products.
