The Marlowes Shopping Centre supports Period Poverty Week with free sanitary items

The Marlowes, located in the heart of Hemel Hempstead, pride themselves upon being a pillar of support for the local community, and have been providing free sanitary products in the ladies bathrooms since March this year.

This week, the shopping centre has been further highlighting this service to show their support for Period Poverty Week, a week dedicated to raising awareness and providing support for those who struggle to access menstrual products. According to Bodyform, in the UK 1 in 10 girls cannot afford to buy menstrual products, and can have further impacts on education due to missing school during their period.

The Marlowes are proud supporters of Hey Girl, a campaign that matches the number of sanitary products purchased by companies and donates them to people in need. So far through this scheme, The Marlowes has donated 500 tampons and 250 pads, with the plan to continue to support and donate further items.

In addition, customers at the centre can ‘ask for Florence’ at the Guest Services desk and be given a free and discrete sanitary pack in a plain brown bag, which includes a selection of tampons and pads.

Humphrey Mwanza, Centre Manager at The Marlowes Shopping Centre, commented “We are proud to be shouting loud and clear about Period Poverty Week this week at The Marlowes, and are happy to be offering free menstrual products to anyone who needs them at the centre throughout the year. We are strong believers that nobody should be held back by not having safe and hygienic ways to deal with menstruation, and it’s great to play a small part in breaking the stigma around this.”

Humphrey continues “We encourage our shoppers to stop by the Guest Services desk if they require any additional products and make us of this free service.”

For further details on events at The Marlowes Shopping Centre, visit The Marlowes website.