Taupō District Council has teamed up with the Ministry of Education to help hundreds of people in the district access free period products.

The Ministry of Education’s Ikura | Manaakitia te whare tangata initiative aims to provide free period products to children and young people in all schools and kura across New Zealand.

Taupō District Council senior community development advisor Peter Boyd says after engaging a new supplier, the Ministry of Education had some excess period products in storage. It wanted to distribute these to community organisations and schools not already in the programme.

The Ministry asked Taupō District Council to help it identify suitable organisations that could provide young people with easy access to period products.

“Our involvement meant organisations wishing to participate were provided easy access to a one-off bulk supply of period products to distribute to their clients with minimal administration on their part.”

The local schools and organisations receiving the free period products include Central Plateau REAP, Taupō Pregnancy Help, Lakeland Learning, Reporoa College, St Patrick’s Catholic School, Mangakino Central Charitable Trust and Real Taupō (Southern Lakes).

Pregnancy Help Taupō branch coordinator Ellie Godwin says she and her team of volunteers are incredibly grateful for the free products.

“We work closely with [Taupō District Council community development advisor] Angie Hendricks and she sent an email through to see if we were interested,” she says.

“We went through the application process and a few weeks later two massive pallets were delivered to our door, which was really cool. It was a nice surprise and we knew the need for them is massive.

“Especially with the cost of living at the moment, the cost of period products is just another thing women have to deal with. It’s been amazing, they’ve been so well received. It’s just great now that women in our area have another option for getting these products if it’s something they can’t afford.”

Ministry of Education studies show poor access to period products can affect rangatahi attendance and engagement at school and in sporting and cultural activities, affecting their achievement and wellbeing. About one in 12 students reported having missed school due to lack of access to period products.

Find out more at www.education.govt.nz.

Caption: Pregnancy Help Taupō branch coordinator Ellie Godwin with one of the boxes of free period products the organisation received.

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