Help Shreya promote Sustainable Menstruation in government schools

Shreya Maggon, a 15 year old student from Watchung Hills Regional High School in New Jersey is travelling to India to learn, research and raise funds for the underprivileged women and girls in the below villages gain access to sustainable menstrual cups and cloth pads:

Tharahunse Village near Bangalore, Karnataka

Government school/Wards of orphanage in Bangalore, Karnataka

Anwal Village, near Rohtak, Haryana
Bansi Village, near Rohtak, Haryana

The fundraiser will have an efficiency of 100%, which means that all the funds collected will go towards the purchase of the reusable menstrual products!

If you support the cause, please donate any amount of money and share her Facebook Page! Everything and anything helps!

LIKE AND SHARE HER FACEBOOK PAGE

PERIOD LOVE
A woman's periods - a purely biological function - the very core of life itself, has unfortunately been degraded to something that a woman should feel ashamed about and hide from society as something impure and dirty.
Period Love is all about changing people's attitude towards menstruation by replacing shame, guilt, and secrecy about a woman's periods with pride, joy, and acceptance - of her identity.

WHY SUSTAINABLE MENSTRUATION - #BLEEDGREEN
Over the years, sanitary napkins have gained prominence in India as the Government and NGOs have taken initiatives and workshops towards educating females about the importance of personal hygiene. Increased awareness about personal hygiene remains one of the primary factors for growth of the Indian sanitary napkin market. The market is expected to reach a value of around US$ 596 Million by 2022, growing at a CAGR of more than 6% during 2017-2022.

Sadly, this trend has had an unforeseen impact on the environment - processing disposable sanitary waste. India has a nascent waste management policy. It is yet to consolidate and introduce a proper waste management process for sanitary waste. Despite segregation, sanitary pads are landfilled, where they languish for years or burnt unscientifically, releasing toxins into the atmosphere.

Our monthly periods contribute to the garbage piling up in our cities, clogging our drains, polluting our environment and ruining the health of our fellow citizen. It's hypocritical to complain about the state of affairs without doing what's within our power.

The Period Love Bleed Green campaign focuses on sustainable alternatives - Reusable cloth pads and menstrual cups. Each woman converting to reusable alternatives diverts 5000-6000 pads from landfills in her lifetime.

FUNDRAISING
Shreya's project is supported by Stonesoup.in. As part of our CSR activities, we conduct awareness in various slums, government schools, colleges, to the underprivileged staff of various organizations and communities. While doing the sessions we realized everyone wanted to shift to sustainable products for period care - Reusable Menstrual Cups and Cloth Pads. But it is difficult for some to make that investment.

On an average, we distribute about 40-50 menstrual products in each session, ranging from Rs. 350/- - 835/- (reusable menstrual pads & menstrual cups)

A menstrual cup can be reused for up 8-10 years and thus a menstrual cup user saves 1800 pads from landfills.  

A cloth pad can be reused for 2-3 years and thus a cloth pad user saves 450 pads from landfills.

Usually, we ask the participants to pay a nominal amount - 50-100 Rs. and we raise funds through CSR's, organizations, individuals etc to fund the rest.
Also, we arrange workshops for underprivileged women and teach them to make their own cloth pads.

Love your periods, Love Earth!