Posted on 01/24/2017 12:25:34 PM PST by digger48
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — One year ago, we introduced you to an Indianapolis woman with a goal to collect as many bras as possible. It wasn’t a weird obsession, it was an effort to make sure all Hoosier women had the proper undergarments, even those who couldn’t afford them. Since then, she’s gathered more than 10,000 bras and her work has expanded to include menstrual items as well.
“Can you imagine what it would be like if you didn’t have a bra that fit you for a job interview or if you had your period and you didn’t have access to a pad or a tampon?”
It’s a message Rachael Heger said quickly that resonated with not only women in Indianapolis, but is spreading across the country.
“This has exploded,” Heger said.
10,000 bras have been donated to organizations and 40,000 pads and tampons too. Within just months of starting a local chapter, Heger is now a leader in the international organization of Support the Girls.
ORIGINAL STORY: Indy woman collects thousands of bras for the homeless “We collect everything from training bras, nursing bras, mastectomy bras, pretty bras, sports bras, functional bras and I have received bras from brand new training bras up to I believe the biggest size I’ve received to date is an L cup,” Heger said. “Here’s like a J cup bra, this one is actually new with tags.”
The bras first came from neighbors, family, and friends, but now Heger receives them from complete strangers on a daily basis. Her basement, once a play room, is now an office and bra haven.
“There’s lot and lots and lots over here. And then in here, I collect loose pads and tampons as well as full packages, so if people buy a brand that they don’t like or they have some extras left over, go ahead and I take these extras, because so long as they’re individually wrapped, like all of these, they can still be passed on,” Heger said.
It was a hypothetical hobby at the start of 2016, but it’s her life’s work, a full-time service project she says she intends to continue as long as possible.
“I’ve never been so optimistic and so thankful to so many hoosier women,” Heger said.
To learn more about how to donate or even hold a bra drive, visit the Support the Girls – Indianapolis Facebook page.
If I had a dollar for every woman who has stopped me on the street looking for either a bra or a tampon...
Can’t we do both? I’d like to be as supportive as possible and still have fun.
Sounds like a dream job to me.
There’s a ministry in Pennsylvania that provides food and necessities to areas demolished by floods and other catastrophe’s, mostly overseas. It’s connected with Campus Crusade for Christ.
My son was there to help with his church youth group. They were given scraps of fabric to cut into a certain pattern. It wasn’t until they were done cutting thousands of them that they were told they were making re-usable feminine products.
In Muslim countries, women have no access to disposable stuff and are just sent outside for one week a year. These things are truly life changing for them.
Kind of really icky and disgusting for the boys who were making them though.
The Left complains that Vote ID laws disenfranchise poor and minority voters who don't have ID. That may be one or two people in the entire country. Who the heck doesn't have ID that wants to vote? You need an ID for everything in society now. Red herring.
This no-bra thing can't be a "big" problem (no pun intended) or we'd have heard about it in Leftist media. Not that this woman's intention aren't good.
But what woman doesn't have basic underwear who is going to go "interview" for a job? Seriously?
I agree with you.
I believe there was a parade of them in D.C. last Saturday.
Is anyone capable of buying any of the things they need and use? We have a zillion government programs for the poor, we have church ministries and pantries, we have private charities, but that’s not enough! Every time I turn around I hear about some group that is collecting some specific item for the needy. Here is a small list: blankets in winter, fans in summer, shoes for kids, mattresses for kids, coats for kids, school supplies, backpacks for kids, back-to-school haircuts for kids, meals at various holidays, toys for kids, work clothes for poor women going on interviews.... and I’m sure there are more. BTW, I still have blankets that I got decades ago. Do people really need new ones every year?
Now, one of my favorite shows is The First 48 that follows homicide detectives as they investigate murders. In many cases, the “poor” I see in these shows have nice clothes, expensive shoes, expensive manicures, expensive tattoos, gold teeth, satellite dishes on houses, and really, really nice vehicles. The poverty industry is a scam.
The only hungry people in the US are the homeless, who usually have mental health or addiction problems, and kids whose parents deliberately neglect or abuse them. The poor in the US live better than most of the rest of the world. Being poor now means not having everything you could possibly want that other people have.
It should be broadcast far and wide that poverty stats do not count non-cash government benefits. Someone could be getting a raft of “free” stuff and have a small income (not to mention what they get that they don’t report) and still be counted as living in poverty. BS!
Were the boys previously unaware of the existence of menstruation?
This is the strangest thing in recent mammary.
No, they were old enough to know that. They had never made pads before.
I’m a guy. Sorry, but there’s a bit of an ick factor for me. It’s a lot bigger with teenage boys.
>>and you didn’t have access to a pad or a tampon?
Is there a shortage or something? Is this like the Seinfeld episode about the contraceptive sponge?
An important duty on California vegetables?
Because they touched fabric scraps?
Okay, whatever.
>>We should be encouraging this type of project. Private citizens doing helpful things without the aid of our tax dollars. Quite honestly, good for her. We should be supporting this woman, not making fun.
It’s not the work that is being ridiculed, it’s the typical whiny Progressive tone she takes. When some woman does not have “access to a pad or tampon”, do they call a number and a Ghostbusters type of vehicle delivers it to her wherever she is?
Plenty of stores sell tampons, even convenience stores. I know that if I needed some supplies for a week a month to stop my bleeding junk from oozing out of my pants, I would place it VERY high on my priority list of things to buy. I’d even skip a morning coffee or two (or seven!) to buy those supplies.
As the lone male in a female-dominated household I know a fact many males do not.
Bras are quite expensive.
You’re a regular Al Calavicci.
Y’know, I tried to post a story about how I supported this lady and her ideas and how my son had the chance to perform a similar service for women in very very poor circumstances. You decide to get on your feminist horse and mock it.
I am genuinely befuddled at the concept that young men would find pieces of cloth “icky” or disgusting, just because someday they are going to be used by menstruating women on another continent. If that seems “feminist” to you, then it seems we’re simply not communicating.
I did not intend to offend you.
When I was a boy I thought it was a word that meant a "man in a stressful situation".
It wan't until years later that I learned I was right.
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