A MUM-of-two has made it her mission to help young girls in St Helens after joining the ‘Red Box’ project providing free sanitary products in school.

Michelle Ruddock, from Eccleston, was horrified when she learned that ‘period poverty’ was an issue facing many girls across the country, where young women were missing out on their education because they couldn’t afford the products they needed during their period.

After hearing about a similar group in Warrington, the 48-year-old looked into how to donate to a St Helens group, and after learning St Helens hadn’t joined the project yet - she took it upon herself to help the young women of St Helens.

She said: “I couldn’t believe it when I heard about this project and was really surprised that it’s actually an issue in our schools. We want to make sure no girl misses out on any of her schooling because of her period, which shouldn’t be anything to worry about.

“It is not always poverty driven, there can be cultural issues, families where mum is not around and dad doesn’t know where to start or families struggling to make ends meet or even children not wanting to ask.”

The project works by people dropping off sanitary product donations to drop off points, such as Momo’s on Cotham Street, with Michelle collecting them. These will then be delivered to schools wanting to take part in a Red Box, and girls can discretely collect the items they need from a teacher.

For more information visit redboxproject.org.