Women send 10,000 sanitary pads sent to flood-hit Kerala

SURAT: A group of women of city-based self-help group (SHG) has sent sanitary pads as Rakshabandhan gift to their sisters in Kerala. The women had recently set up a sanitary pad manufacturing unit at Ichhapore with the support Shakti Foundation.

The SHG has already dispatched 10,000 sanitary pads and is working day and night to supply more to the women in the flood-hit Kerala.

The unit, which manufactures sanitary pads under brand name ‘Cozy Pads’, has been started by Jyoti Patel, Binal Mandaliya, Chetna Patel and Bhavna Patel.

SHG administrator Jyoti Patel said, “We have been giving sanitary pads to girls in ashram schools till now. When we heard about floods in Kerala, we thought people would send grains and clothes for the victims, but what about the women who will need sanitary pads? So we decided to send Cozy Pads to our sisters in Kerala. We have already sent more than 10,000 pads and will send more.”

Dr. Sonal Rochani, co-founder of Shakti Foundation, said, “"We have been working for empowerment of women for a long time and as part of many activities that we have been doing, we started this sanitary napkin manufacturing unit for this SHG. We have trained them in marketing too. Our objective is to make them self reliant and make good quality pads available to women at affordable price. The ongoing relief work has given us an opportunity to support the women in need.”