The Reusables Project

Ending Period Poverty Sustainably

Period Poverty Impacts  1 in 3 Canadians

Period poverty is a worldwide health crisis that affects mental health, reproductive health, self-esteem and confidence. Reusable pads not only reduce waste to landfills but also ensure that individuals have consistent access to period products for years at a time, eliminating period poverty sustainably.

Reusable Pad Sewing Classes

We’ll teach you how to sew your own reusable pads. We’ve got pop-up Beginner only sewing classes at numerous locations in and around the Greater Toronto area. With small class sizes (5-7 participants) and an experienced instructor, everyone is given sufficient practice.

Environment Impact

Driving Impact Beyond Borders

Over the year we have mentored individuals and organizations in different countries to start similar projects in Italy, Mexico, Trinidad, Uganda, & Malawi. Many lessons were learnt such as universally accepted patterns and fabric alternatives, that would be key for anyone starting an initiative like this one.

Environment Impact

Our Environmental Impact

Disposable period products can take between 500 – 800 years to decompose. Distributing reusable pads promotes sustainable living and diverts hundreds of thousands of menstrual product waste from landfills.

“This class was amazing!! The instructor, Barbara, was phenomenal. Would love to see more classes like this! I had an amazing experience, refreshing basic skills learned a long time ago. We also had the privilege of sewing our own feminine menstrual pad.“

- Participant

Apply For Support

We extend our heartfelt thanks to Ontario Trillium Foundation for their generous support from March 2024 to March 2026. Together, we’re creating brighter futures and a more equal world.

Support Our Efforts On The Ground

We know where period poverty needs to be fought. We’re already on the front lines, listening, connecting, and caring.

We just need your help fighting it.

Donate Get Involved

Based in Brampton, Canada, we address period poverty at home and abroad.

CRA registered charity number: 736051517RR0001

“Growing up in Jamaica—access to essential materials like sanitary pads was a luxury. Most of what we had we needed to spend making sure we could eat or get to school. By the end of the month, we couldn’t afford sanitary pads. We would use paper, cardboard—and a range of other things to meet our needs. When I got to Canada I realized that this wasn’t tied to geography. It was global—and in Toronto, the need was really there. So I started Help A Girl Out in 2018. Since then we’ve delivered thousands of hygiene materials to women and girls in across Canada, and around the world.”

She is inspired by her mother, who handcrafted pads for her to wear to school so that she could have equal education and escape the poverty that she was exposed to in her home. & uses her experiences and that of her siblings and peers as a driving force behind her passion for Help A Girl Out (HAGO) and eliminating period poverty. Since 2020, HAGO has distributed hundreds of thousands of hygiene and menstrual product kits for the homeless, refugee, BIPOC and low-income communities in the Toronto GTA and beyond as the COVID-19 crisis had severely impacted Canadians, forcing many families below the poverty line and worsening the circumstances of those who were already there.

She was awarded Global Citizen’s Canada’s Hero Award for her advocacy work through Help A Girl Out, the Viola Desmond award bursary by TMU, the Brampton Board of Trade: Community Impact Award & most recently the Toronto Youth Cabinet: Youth Advocay award.

In addition to her humanitarian efforts, Yanique holds a BSc in Medical Physics and is completing her masters in Biomedical Physics at Ryerson/TMU University. Her area of research aims to improve medical imaging in proton therapy cancer therapy.