To provide support to the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) in fighting COVID-19, residents of five women’s shelters run by the civic body, have started stitching cloth masks to be distributed amongst homeless persons.
There are a total of 51 night shelters run by the GCC in the city, and out of these, 8 are shelters for women. Among these, a few residents of five shelters, who were provided with training in tailoring, started stitching these masks few days ago.
In the last few days alone, a total of 3,000 masks were provided to the GCC. These will be distributed to close to 4,000 homeless persons and stranded persons who have been housed in the shelters and community halls in the city.
One of the shelters where masks are made is in Kamdar Nagar in Kodambakkam. Residents Shanti Agatha (38) and R. Manimekalai (28), both persons with disabilities, have been stitching the masks.
“We make 250 masks per day,” says Ms. Shanti, whose 16-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son also live with her. Ms. Manimekalai, who has finished her diploma in elementary education, is now staying in the shelter and is preparing for the Teachers Eligibility Test.
“I recently learned stitching and I am trying my best to help Ms. Shanti in making the masks. Though the numbers may be small, we are happy that we doing our bit in helping the society,” she said.
Asha Parek Nandini, city-level coordinator, Shelter for Urban Homeless, said that the idea to make residents of women’s shelters stitch masks was that of Madhusudhan Reddy, deputy commissioner, health, GCC. “If we get more sewing machines, we can make more masks,” she said.
