Impact Stories

United Way BC Southern Vancouver Island Thanks the Public for Making the Period Promise

Victoria, BC (July 25, 2024) – Today, United Way BC Southern Vancouver Island announced that the 2024 Period Promise campaign exceeded expectations by generating $25,610 in financial donations and inspiring individuals, families, workplaces, and clubs to donate 91,752 units of new menstrual products.  

 The Period Promise campaign is an annual public push to increase access to free menstrual products so that everyone who menstruates – women, girls, non-binary people, and trans folx – can go to work, get to school, access services, and stay connected to their community. 

 The campaign took place over April and May, culminating May 25 at the “Fill-the-Bus” event, which was supported by BC Transit, joni, Somedays, and the Victoria Labour Council. The event, held at the Saanich location of Save-on-Foods, also featured a pay-by-donation BBQ hosted by Unifor and the Somedays period pain simulator. United Way staff also collected donations at two satellite locations of Save-on-Foods: Sidney and Colwood.  

 The campaign featured a major donation from an anonymous supporter, who offered to match all other donations up to the $10,000 mark. The challenge helped inspire an additional $15,610 from individual donors, local businesses, and labour organizations across Southern Vancouver Island. 

 The 91,752 donated units of new menstrual products were handed over to partner agency Soap for Hope Canada to distribute to a network of local social service agencies. Last year UWSVI collected 51,247 units. 

 Beyond fundraising and collecting products, the Period Promise campaign is dedicated to raising awareness, destigmatizing a commonplace biological occurrence—menstruation—and generating empathy for people who have a challenging time accessing menstrual products.  

 For this reason, says Erika Stenson, Executive Director of United Way BC SVI, “We were out in the community, in the media, and on ads talking openly about menstruation and menstrual equity. And the results were sometimes surprising and often moving.”  

 In May, United Way BC SVI’s Community Relations Officer had a series of inspiring interactions with youth at a Period Promise event at The Bay Centre, where she witnessed a young couple discussing menstrual products, watched a young man donating to the cause with his pocket money, and sparked a conversation with a teenage girl who overcame her shyness to ask how to use a menstrual cup.  

United Way also continued to work with local businesses, workplaces, and government offices who provide free menstrual products in their spaces. United Way developed an online map to help promote these organizations—and to help people who need menstrual products, find them safely—when and where they need them.