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California High junior Saee Patil took advantage of last week’s spring break to hold a fundraiser for her project, Help for Her, which provides feminine hygiene products for women in need.
Before the pandemic, Patil was visiting Pune, India, where she lived until she moved to San Ramon in the sixth grade, and she became aware of the lack of hygiene supplies that many young women were suffering.
“That’s when I realized how lucky I am,” Patil said. “So many girls the same age as me could not do daily activities or go to school because they were on their period. I truly recognized how bad the effects of period poverty are.”
She discovered alarming worldwide statistics.
“Millions of girls in developing countries miss up to 20% of schooling because they don’t have access to feminine hygiene products,” Patil said.
“This awakening also made me think about women in my community who might be facing the same problem,” she added. “I started Help for Her to help others in my community.”
Patil, 16, began Help for Her in early 2020, and held donation drives and fundraisers throughout the year to buy feminine hygiene products for local women’s shelters, including Shepherd’s Gate in Livermore and Ruby’s Place in Hayward.
“Your thoughtfulness and generosity will touch the lives and hearts of the women and children we serve,” Amanda August, facilities assistant at Shepherd’s Gate, responded to the donations.
Patil said last week that so far she has donated 650 pads and tampons to the shelters, and with the proceeds from last week’s fundraiser would purchase more. She also plans to expand her efforts.
“I want to increase the number of volunteers and donate products to other parts of the country where they’re needed,” she said.
Patil is also working with an organization in India to be able to donate products to its communities.
“There is a blind girls’ school in Pune, and I am trying to give there,” she said. “They don’t have very many resources, so when they have their periods, they can’t go outside.”
Patil quoted author and activist Melissa Berton, who advocates for women and girls: “A period should end a sentence. Not a girl’s education.”
Meanwhile Patil was busy putting together her local fundraiser.
“I have a lot of Indian community around me so I can make homemade Indian snacks and they miss it so they will buy it,” she said.
To learn more, visit saeenppatil.wixsite.com/helpforher.
