A group of Grade 8 students at Chief Whitecap School are making a difference for others and raising awareness of issues that face individuals in need through a series of donation drives that gather needed hygiene products.

It started in March when students involved in the school's social action group collected more than 400 packages of feminine hygiene products to donate to those who could not afford or did not have access to these products. Beneficiaries included The Lighthouse, Str8 Up, Egadz, and the United Way. A Grade 6-12 school in Wollaston Lake, located 13 hours north of Saskatoon, also received more than 100 packages.

In April, the group collected 1,162 packages of dental hygiene products. They shifted to socks and underwear in May, and are currently gathering shampoo, conditioner, soap, body wash and deodorant.

Their efforts originated with an assignment about body image. That led to conversation between students Samya, Marcia, and Leigh — the group's founders — and teacher Jenn Robertson about the cost of menstrual products and initiatives that gather and distribute the products for those in need. Within a few hours, students were putting together a plan for their own collection drive and taking the idea to their principal.

"Students also wanted to make talking about menstruation and period products normal in our society so girls would not have to be embarrassed about talking about it or needing period products," Robertson explained. "They wanted to destigmatize the idea of it being unnatural and 'gross' among their peers. They wanted to make it something that both boys and girls were comfortable talking about."

The students involved in the social action groups presented to each of the school's Grade 5-8 classes about the collection drive. The response from the school was positive with many donations coming from students and staff. Sharing the initiative through social media resulted in donations from across Saskatchewan and even one from Toronto.

"Adults responded in such a positive way, speaking about how they take access to period products for granted and didn't realize that students in our own province missed school because they didn't have access or couldn't afford these products," Robertson said.

Students approached businesses for support and their recesses and lunch hours provided time to write or make phone calls to seek support and contributions. Out-of-school time was used to pick up and drop off products (with the help of their parents) and to also write thank you notes to the organizations who made donations.

"The students and staff have been very open-minded, participatory, and generous with the donations that they brought," the group members wrote. "We also thank the businesses that fully supported and helped contribute to the drive. Everyone we spoke to understood our cause and was very enthusiastic about what we were doing."

Leading the initiative offered group members the opportunity to learn and refine planning and organizational skills as well as such things as communication, leadership, taking initiative, and dealing with rejection and difficult situations.

"It just takes one idea to change the world and we helped change our community and made a difference," the students said as a group. "We made the people around us feel grateful for what they have and to feel empathy for the people who did not have as much. This experience gave us a learning opportunity to educate ourselves of the steps we need to take to make change happen and the work we have to put in to help the community.

"We would like to recognize the efforts of Marcia, Samya, Leigh, Erica, Darren, Iscis, Aria, Eshal, and our mentors Mrs. Robertson and Ms. Chaudhry. We'd also like to say thank you to the places and people that donated. Thank you for making this happen. Together we can make a difference!" 

Robertson said the way in which students took their initial inspiration and developed it into a successful, months-long project that shared information and learning with schoolmates and contributed to needs in the wider community engaged students in an issue and a cause that was important to them.

"In addition to the list the students made about the skills they learned from this project one of the main benefits was how to take an idea and turn it into action," she said. "They started with an idea and, with a little help and advice from teachers, they were able to decide what needed to happen at each step of this project."