A RENFREWSHIRE woman has launched a unique initiative to supply thousands of refugee Ukrainian women with free period products.

Beauty therapist Laura Smillie, 45, got the idea when listening to an interview with one woman whose husband and son were fighting the invading Russians.

Laura said: “She was talking about the shortages she was facing and simple things like getting period products for her daughter and that really hit home.”

Mum-of-two Laura provides a home beauty therapist service for women using a camper van, which she parks in clients’ driveways.

She and her 27-year-old pal Mollie Houston, who runs a marketing company, formed ‘Pamper for Periods’ last week to collect and donate sanitary items for Ukrainian women using the van.

Laura added: “The response in just five days from local women and businesses has been astonishing and we are keen to spread the word. 

“I kept on hearing people talking about donations drives to the people in Ukraine, but no one mentioned something as simple as period products.

“It’s been a bit of a taboo subject in the past.

“But I have had more conversations in the last week with women about sanitary items that I have had in my whole life.”

Laura is now linking up with aid organisations to ensure that the items are delivered to women who are still in the country and others who have fled.

She has also set up drop-off points across Renfrewshire where people can donate, including Houston, Bridge of Weir, Kilmacolm and Erskine.

Laura added: “It is growing arms and legs just now. The products are flooding in.

“Our plan is to get everything collected and wrapped and send it all at once through the aid organisations.

“We just want to get them to the women that need them whether they are still in Ukraine or are in other countries like Poland or Moldova.”

The garage of Laura’s home in Houston is now packed with thousands of packets of sanitary products ready to head east.

She added: “My husband had to stop me packing the donations into the camper van and driving to Poland myself.

“I am getting people stopping me in the street and handing stuff over.

“It’s been a great response.”

Laura used to run a beauty salon in Bridge of Weir but had to close it due to Covid.

She then got the idea of giving people treatments in their homes and driveways in her camper van.

Laura added: “We are hoping that the period products can be given out with clothes and food.

“When women were packing their bags to flee the Ukraine it was probably the last thing they thought of.”