EDMONTON -- A chance encounter with a woman asking for change outside a restaurant changed Scarlet Bjornson's life.
"For whatever reason, I was compelled to ask what she wanted to spend the money on and she said tampons," Bjornson said on CTV Morning Live Edmonton. "At that point I had never ever thought about donating tampons. Not once."
She starting thinking about the costs and challenges that add up for vulnerable women to deal with something that happens naturally and decided to take action.
Bjornson founded the non-profit No Woman Without. Period. and began donation drives in Edmonton.
In 2019, the organization collected more than 100,000 pieces, which worked out to about a year's worth of products for 350 women.
This year's donation drive continues through Feb. 29.
All brands and sizes of tampons and pads are needed.
"Every woman is different, all the sizes are different, every flow is different," Bjornson said. "Whatever is on that shelf in the feminine product or menstrual hygiene area in the store, we need that."
The campaign has expanded to Calgary and Vancouver in 2020.
