A business owner is asking Auckland women for their old bras. Not a strange request nor anything untoward but a simple donation for charity.
Frances McInnes, the owner of Breastmates Breastfeeding Store, is asking women to donate any of their preloved bras which will be collected up and sent to women in Zimbabwe.
Breastmates is running the collection drive in conjunction with HOTmilk the supplier of the maternity bras that are sold as part of Breastmates’ range, and former-Zimbabwean Morag Roy who saw the need for bras in the country.
The bras will be distributed to school girls and women who often do not own any underwear. Something as simple as underwear gives women prestige, shows that they have money, and means men are less likely to assault them.
The collection is called “Knickers for Africa” but Frances clarifies that only secondhand bras are being collected from the public. “We are also sending our end-of line knickers that are brand new, not secondhand ones.”
Frances says she is “extremely pleased to put her energy into this project”, and that “if all she has to do is ask people for their old bras for it to make a change to another person’s life, then it is totally worth the effort.”
Frances has already started taking collections, through pamphlet drops in her neighbourhood, local community groups, and promotions on her website.
“I’ve been quite bombarded with bras already, every day there are a few more in the mail box and my postie must wonder what is going on.”
The collection is being run from February through to March, when the bras will be shipped to women living in villages in Zimbabwe, Africa.
For more information go to http://www.breastmates.co.nz/africa.html
Frances McInnes, the owner of Breastmates Breastfeeding Store, is asking women to donate any of their preloved bras which will be collected up and sent to women in Zimbabwe.
Breastmates is running the collection drive in conjunction with HOTmilk the supplier of the maternity bras that are sold as part of Breastmates’ range, and former-Zimbabwean Morag Roy who saw the need for bras in the country.
The bras will be distributed to school girls and women who often do not own any underwear. Something as simple as underwear gives women prestige, shows that they have money, and means men are less likely to assault them.
The collection is called “Knickers for Africa” but Frances clarifies that only secondhand bras are being collected from the public. “We are also sending our end-of line knickers that are brand new, not secondhand ones.”
Frances says she is “extremely pleased to put her energy into this project”, and that “if all she has to do is ask people for their old bras for it to make a change to another person’s life, then it is totally worth the effort.”
Frances has already started taking collections, through pamphlet drops in her neighbourhood, local community groups, and promotions on her website.
“I’ve been quite bombarded with bras already, every day there are a few more in the mail box and my postie must wonder what is going on.”
The collection is being run from February through to March, when the bras will be shipped to women living in villages in Zimbabwe, Africa.
For more information go to http://www.breastmates.co.nz/africa.html
Pictured below: Frances McInnes, manager of Breastmates hanging out a load of donated bras
