The Martlet

The UVic Women’s Centre is calling for donations of panties, feminine hygiene products and chocolates to be divvied out to women in need this Valentine’s Day.

In collaboration with the Prostitute Empowerment Education Resource Society (P.E.E.R.S.) and the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre, the UVic group is collecting female-oriented products to help meet often-unspoken requirements.  

“We realized that there is a huge unmet need in this community — [the need of] panties and feminine hygiene products — and we wanted to do something about it,” said Sinead Charbonneau, a third-year student and the communications outreach co-ordinator for the UVic Women’s Centre. “The chocolates are just to show we care.”

Charbonneau said that working in a non-profit organization, like the Women’s Centre, has helped her to understand the limitations of a small budget and how it plays an impact on what that organization can achieve.

While underwear and feminine products are broadly needed by women, Charbonneau said that when organizations have to spend their budgets on this, they have less room to help in other ways.

“In a way, this is an attempt to bring these issues out into the open, but it’s also us saying thank you to the [women’s] organizations for making a difference,” Charbonneau said.

Charbonneau is asking people to donate (only new) products to the Women’s Centre by Friday, Feb. 13. Half the donations will go to P.E.E.R.S., while the other half will be sent to the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre in Vancouver.

That said, Charbonneau notes that women are in constant need of these products, and donations at any time either to the Women’s Centre or P.E.E.R.S. will make it to the right place.

“In university we have a degree of privilege,” Charbonneau said. “This [effort] is for women living on the margins of society. By giving a gift and recognizing that need we’re showing we’re not going to shy away from that.”

For more information, contact the Women’s Center at wcentre@uvss.uvic.ca or visit their office in the Student Union Building, B107.