Period Product Dispenser Installed at Santaluces High School

In 2020, Rithika Kacham, a student at Suncoast High School, applied to Philanthropy Tank with an idea very close to her heart – Access to free menstrual hygiene products.

Rithika recalls seeing firsthand the struggles of women in her parent’s home country of India.

“While I was growing up, I spent many summers in India. There I saw firsthand all the struggles many women face. This got me thinking. Why should they even have to make these workarounds in the first place? When I came back home, I noticed the lack of free products and started to wonder how the women in my community deal with this problem.” – – Rithika Kacham, 2020 Philanthropy Tank – PBC Awardee

From that passion came Girls Help Girls!

Girls Help Girls is a student-led initiative that helps low-income individuals that menstruate receive proper hygiene products by raising awareness about the lack of access to resources.

Since receiving funding, Girls Help Girls has distributed 250+ period packs through partnerships with Clinics can Help and The Glades Initiative. Rithika has also established new partnerships with the Palm Beach County Food Bank, Place of Hope, and Renewing Dignity to expand her distribution network.

In collaboration with Megan Enriquez from Equal and Empowered (a 2016 Philanthropy Tank program), Girls Help Girls created the Coalition Against Period Poverty (CAPP).

Megan and Rithika worked to get a Period Product Dispenser installed at Santaluces High School. It dispenses FREE hygiene products.

The event was covered by the Education Network. District employees tell us there are students that will miss school because they can’t afford hygiene products. Organizers of both groups hope to have more dispensers installed at other Palm Beach County Schools.

If you are interested in supporting Rithika and Megan, click below to contact us.