Essex is moving forward with a pilot project to offer menstrual products free of charge at town recreational facilities.
Council approved the one year pilot unanimously which will see dispensers and disposal containers installed at the Essex Centre Sports Complex and Harrow and Colchester South Complex beginning in August.
"Being a woman, sometimes it's a convenience issue. Stuff happens right?" says Councillor Sherry Bondy. "Your friends borrow your last stuff you had in your purse and next thing you know something happens and you're in a bathroom and you just need a little bit of help."
According to Bondy, other municipalities and organizations have began doing the same.
"I'm glad that we're having this discussion because I read other school boards are doing it, other municipalities are doing this," she says. "So I'm glad that we are potentially leading the way locally and just making some inconveniences in being a woman just more convenient."
Because we are battling the COVID-19 pandemic, Bondy says she's worried the pilot may not have the uptake it normally would.
"It's COVID, so I don't know if we're even really going to see how much this pilot project gets to take hold. So I would hope that if we're still in lockdown, which I hope we're not, we can extent it and really give it a good go. I know it's a pilot project, but I'd really like to see it be a permanent project."
The one year pilot project will cost the town just under $5,000.