An Australian woman who made headlines around the globe after she was fined $500 for stealing a $6.75 pack of tampons will donate to charity a quarter of the money raised in her name in a bid to ensure it doesn't happen to other women.
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The 20-year-old, who did not wish to be identified, said she was acutely embarrassed by what had happened.
"I'm too embarrassed to even leave the house," she said.
The woman was issued with a $500 fine for stealing the tampons from a Caltex service station in Coolgardie, near Australia's famous mining town of Kalgoorlie, shortly after 9am on a Monday morning in October.
The Coolgardie police tweeted about it the following day.
"Female issued $500 infringement for allegedly stealing a item valued at $6.75 from Caltex," they wrote.
The story was picked up around the world and shared widely on social media.
Amy Rust, co-founder of Essentials 4 Women SA, saw the story and started a crowd-funding campaign to raise $500 to pay the fine.
Within three days, more than $3000 had been donated.
By the time the woman made contact with Ms Rust this week through Facebook, more than $4000 had been pledged.
Ms Rust said the West Australian police would not let her pay the fine on the woman's behalf without the relevant infringement number.
She spent weeks trying to find the woman through media organisations, social media, freedom of information laws, and local health and welfare services.
"Then I started messaging [on Facebook] random people who lived in Coolgardie," Ms Rust told Fairfax Media.
On Monday this week, the woman finally made contact.
The fine has now been paid on her behalf (online, using the infringement number as a reference).
Of the remainder – minus the crowd funding fees – $2000 will be given to the woman.
And $1100 will be donated to women's charities and Aboriginal legal services in the Kalgoorlie area.
"I don't want anyone to be in this situation again, that's for sure," the woman told Ms Rust. "I'm really, really grateful."
The fine was issued under Western Australia's new on-the-spot fine regime, which police can opt to use for certain offences. The scheme has been defended by WA Minister for Police Liza Harvey since this incident gained publicity.
But the story has also raised the profile of charities like Ms Rust's, which collects sanitary items and toiletries for vulnerable and homeless women.
Over the past six weeks, her organisation has collected more than 50,000 items for distribution to shelters and refuges around South Australia.
The Sydney Period Project, which does similar work, has recently launched in NSW on back of the success of the Melbourne Period Project.
It already has a dozen drop-off points for donations.
"Our aim is to ensure homeless women and trans men have the means to deal with their period in a hygienic and private way without having to leave their safe place," Sydney co-ordinator Danni Guerreiro said.
"For some of our recipients, the purchase of pads or other sanitary items can mean that they are without food or other essentials."
