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Queen's Award for Freedom4Girls period poverty charity

BBC Award presentationBBC
Ed Anderson, the Queen's representative in West Yorkshire, presented the award to Freedom4Girls founder Tina Leslie

A Leeds-based charity which tackles period poverty has been honoured with a major award.

Freedom4Girls was given the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service for its work on access to sanitary products for women.

It is the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the United Kingdom.

Tina Leslie, who runs the charity, said Covid-19 had "certainly exacerbated the issue of period poverty".

After receiving the award from Ed Anderson, Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, she said: "To have the Queen recognise what we do is just absolutely amazing, we're so elated."

Tina Leslie
Tina Leslie, who set up Freedom4Girls in 2016, has said period poverty affects people's mental health

Ms Leslie said that usually each month, Freedom4Girls volunteers deliver about 500 packs of pads, tampons and liners to "all sorts of people", including schoolgirls, domestic violence victims, refugees, homeless women and people leaving prison.

During the pandemic that has increased drastically, she added.

"Suddenly in lockdown a lot more people were financially insecure. We've been really busy, we've delivered over 2,000 packs a month to over 60 organisations," she said.

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The charity was started after Ms Leslie worked on a period education project in Kenya and a colleague contacted her from Leeds to ask for help with girls at the school she worked in, as many said they could not afford sanitary products or did not realise they were having a period.

Now, Freedom4Girls educates people about the stigmas and taboos around menstruation.

"We hope the award will shine a light on menstrual health and the serious issue of period poverty in the UK and elsewhere in the world," Ms Leslie said.

"The Queen had the last say on this, which shows she understands the issue, which is great," she added.

Food bank
During the pandemic, the Leeds-based charity made sanitary products available at food banks as well as distributing them among the community
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