A campaign to provide homeless women with sanitary products received such a big response that the women behind it are launching a second project.

Earlier this year, friends Sanya Masood and Sophie Harrold, who both live in Stevenage, leapt into action when they heard about a campaign called The Homeless Period.

The campaign was asking people to sign a petition to get the Government to give homeless shelters an allowance to buy sanitary products.

Wanting to do more, Sanya and Sophie started a Facebook page asking for donations of sanitary towels and tampons to give to homeless shelters.

They had the initial target of getting 50 donations and actually attracted more than 350, which they gave to The Whitechapel Centre in Liverpool for women in need.

Now, because of the success of this project, Sanya and Sophie are asking for donations of sanitary towels for the Ashiana Network in London. This charity specialises in helping black and minority ethnic women who are at risk of domestic or sexual violence.

Sanya, of Turner Close, said: “When they flee their home, they often leave with nothing.

“Shelters have to rely on donations or use their scarce funding in order to provide basic dignity to the women who use their services.

“Despite a petition with over 100,000 signatures calling for the Government to provide sanitary products for free to homeless shelters, this is still not happening.”

If you would like to support Sanya and Sophie’s collection, visit their Facebook page A Bloody Good Cause.

To sign The Homeless Period petition, visit www.change.org and search for ‘The Homeless Period’.