Period Poverty YSI Team Win National Garda Youth Award

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Period Poverty YSI Team Win National Garda Youth Award

Teenagers from Donegal were honoured at the National Garda Youth Awards recently in the ‘Making a Difference in Your Community’ category for their efforts to address the issue of period poverty through their Young Social Innovators participation.

Representatives of the ‘Power of Periods’ YSI team from Rosses Community School, Dungloe travelled to Portlaoise on Saturday 13th November where they were presented with their group award by celebrities Kelly Harrington and Marty Morrisey.

The ‘Power of Periods’ team, comprising both male and female students, embarked on a mission to de-stigmatise periods, bring conversations and education about menstruation out into the open, and to provide free sanitary products for students in their school. 

As part of their project, and following consultations with the student body, the team designed and manufactured an innovative sanitary dispenser for their school bathrooms through which students could access sanitary products free of charge. They also successfully pitched to the YSI Den in February and were awarded €400 from the YSI Social Innovation Fund to advance their project.

The ‘Power of Periods’ is among several YSI projects to be honoured through the Garda Youth Awards in recent years and we are delighted to see young people receive such recognition for their contribution to their communities.

Congratulations to Rosses Community School on this wonderful achievement.

For more information on the Power of Periods project, watch their YSI Speak Out Virtual Tour video here: https://youngsocialinnovators.us.launchpad6.com/speakout2021/entry/54