A STENTON mum of three has launched a social enterprise project to provide schoolgirls with access to free sanitary products, after it was revealed some teenage girls skip school rather than ask their struggling parents for money to buy them.

Celia Hodson has firsthand experience of managing the lives of two teenage daughters while a single parent on a budget.

Now she has launched Hey Girls, a social enterprise which aims to supply schools with enough products to support female pupils by offering customers a ‘Buy One, Give One’ box of sanitary pads.

Celia, who is crowdfunding to raise funds for her first shipment of the newly designed organic towels, has already had interest from Asda in retailing the new product.

She said: “Having been a single parent of three children, two of which were girls, I understand the struggle of bringing up a family on benefits. I appreciate the fine balancing act that goes into managing a tight budget and providing for your kids so they don’t feel different from their peers.

“I know that sometimes buying a prettily branded pack of 10 sanitary towels mean the family are on chips and nuggets that week.

“There was no help to cover the costs of sanitary protection then and 20 years on there’s no help now so I decided, with my two daughters Becky and Kate, to do something about it.”

The new enterprise will be based at the family’s home in Stenton initially and trialled in East Lothian.

Celia said: “There is evidence of girls not going to school when it is their time of the month because they don’t want to ask their parents for the money to buy sani pads, and teachers even buy them out of their own salary to try and help girls who are struggling.

“It is important to address the issue with free products, and educational support to make sure young girls are not putting themselves at risk.”

Hey Girls is the first social enterprise of its kind and aims to begin in East Lothian schools and expand further afield.

It was welcomed by Councillor Shamin Akhtar, East Lothian Council’s cabinet spokesperson for education.

She said: “Well done to Celia Hodson for setting up this really important social enterprise. It is going to address a really important issue for young women. Hey Girls will make a real difference to the lives of lots of young women.”

To support Hey Girls go to www.crowdfunder.co.uk/hey-girls-launch-2