Surat gifts over 2,000 pairs of 'shoes' to needy girls

SURAT: On entering Science Centre at City Light area of Surat where women from different fields have showcased their works as a part of GR8 Weekender event to celebrate womanhood, you will find something unusual. Hundreds of footprints with names are on display at one of the events of GR8 Weekender which will conclude on International Women's Day on Sunday.
“We have put up names and footprints on the floors which look like an artwork. But it is an initiative to collect pairs of spare shoes from women. We have printed names of those who had donated us shoes. We had appealed to women of the city to donate their shoes to help us give them to poor girls. We received tremendous response and collected over 2,000 pairs of shoes,’’ said Dr Pooja Nadkarni Singh, one of the organizers of the event.
Dr. Pooja Nadkarni Singh and photographer and filmmaker Puja Kedia along with their team members had organized the GR8 Weekender to celebrate womanhood with focus on health, fitness and empowerment.
“I had three pairs of shoes and liked the idea of donating shoes to help underprivileged girls. This pair of shoes may help a girl who needs them the most,” said Binny, a jewellery designer.
In another event, at least 35 paintings of amateur female artists have been displayed. “We have named it ‘the spirit of brush’. About 35 female artists had worked on the subject for one and a half month,” art curator Charanjeet Singh told TOI.