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Ritchot Mayor Launches Kindred Project By Marianne Curtis Two best friends from St. Adolphe are answering the need by Winnipeg Harvest to ensure that women requiring assistance have access to feminine hygiene products. On December 3, Jackie Hunt and Christina Redmond launched Kindred Project. At the end of the one day blitz, over $1,000 in cash and a truckload of supplies was collected at five different locations in Winnipeg. Hunt, who is also the RM of Ritchot’s Mayor, launched the program in response to a news article about how Winnipeg Harvest was starving for donations of feminine hygiene products. Last month, Winnipeg Harvest was only able to fill 52 out of 381 requests for products. “I was really moved by a video I watched that showed how women on the streets deal with their period and I was shocked,” Hunt explained. “They put their own lives at risk, dealing with something that every woman has to deal with so I decided to do something to help other women.” Inspired by a similar project in Australia, Hunt said she wanted to do something long term and sustainable to help women living in poverty or experiencing homelessness. Starting with a drop off bin at her parent’s house in St. James, the ladies have now placed donation bins in a number of locations throughout Winnipeg and about 50 individuals throughout Winnipeg have placed bins on their front porch for product drop off. “People don’t have to go door to door to collect them,” Hunt said. “Individuals can help by asking to host a bin and volunteers will come and empty it when it’s full.” Volunteers then sort the donations and put them into a smaller month’s supply of sanitary nap-
Jackie Hunt, founder of the Kindred Project with Charlotte, who donated a “boat load” of product during the one-day blitz.
kins and tampons in four different packages for women and Transmen. “It doesn’t matter whether we collect enough to give out a hundred packs or a thousand packs, we know we are taking care of women,” Hunt added. “My wish is that we won’t have to do drives every year, and that donations of feminine hygiene
products becomes a common donation.” The items will be disbursed to eight different organizations, in Winnipeg including Winnipeg Harvest, and Siloam Mission. Rurally, The Kindred Project has partnered with organizations in the region, including Helping Hands in Steinbach, food banks
Trespassers Caught On Camera On September 28 at around 9:30 am, Steinbach RCMP received a report of two males with backpacks who were trespassing at night on a property in the RM of La Broquerie. The males were wearing baggy pants, ball caps and book bags. If you have any information in regards to the above you are asked to contact the Steinbach RCMP Detachment at 204-3264452 or CrimeStoppers at 1-800222-8477 or manitobacrimestoppers.com or text “TIPMAN” plus your message to Crimes (274637).
in Ile des Chenes, Morris, Steinbach and other organizations that help low income and homeless women in southern Manitoba. To support this endeavour, the Kindred Project accepts monetary donations online. For more information, visit thekindredproject.ca.