Ladies, bring in your bras!!

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TELL YOUR FRIENDS TOO - share on Facebook Green Gables are proudly supporting this project.   Bras can be placed in the pink wheely bin in the office. Our collection will finish on Friday 22nd March. Uplift Project www.upliftbras.org For women in disadvantaged communities a bra is often unobtainable or unaffordable. This project collects new and second hand bras and sends them wherever we have requests. Below is an excerpt from their website Why Bras? "In the Solomon Islands it is quite difficult to access a comfortable bra. Some of the second hand shops sell bras but mostly women have to buy their bras from the Chinese Trade Stores. These bras have some problems; they come in smaller sizes, are made of nylon and perish quickly in tropical conditions. You cannot buy maternity bras or mastectomy bras in country. For the women to be given free bras is an unbelievable experience for all of them. Women feel a tremendous obligation to meet the needs of their families, and so for any woman in the village to spend money buying a bra for herself can almost be seen as an unforgivable sin. The priority for women's spending is food and education needs of children."  - Rose Wale, 2012, Report of Bra Distribution, Solomon Islands. The situation described above is common in many countries. Women appreciate the common dignity of a bra for business or social occasions. Bras control breast swing when women bend to garden or cook at ground level. In humid climates rashes, fungal infections and abscesses occur between the breast and the chest wall. Bras help by allowing air circulation. Nursing mums everywhere leak, and bras allow the dignity of a dry shirt, and the comfort of support. A thrush rash on a mother's skin may spread to her baby's mouth, and then back into the breast itself. A mastectomy bra offers privacy about the problem. Since 2005, Uplift, with assistance from Intimo and Rotary Australia World Community Service, has sent 600,000 bras wherever women have requested them. Uplift tries to ensure they get to the women who need them without compromising their dignity. We have sent bras to Fiji, PNG, Vanuatu, Cook Islands, Tonga, Solomon Islands, Philippines, Bali, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and the Northern Territory and the Kimberley. Uplift sends bras only where they are requested. We supply to import duty exempt organisations for distribution and fitting. We ship only in biodegradable packaging, and aim not to compete with local businesses.

Often the bra received through Uplift will be the only bra that woman owns
What Do We Want?
Size 8-16, A-D cup ( 30-40 / 80-100 ) in good condition, including crop top styles.
Size 18+, A-D cup ( 42+ / 105+ ) - rare and precious bras - any condition will do.
Nursing bras including crop tops, ANY condition will do. If it will catch a leak it is better than nothing, which is the alternative.
E cup plus, ANY size - even rarer - you will know that if you've tried to buy them. Likely to be the only properly fitting bras that a woman gets in her life.

Mastectomy Bras and Breast Forms (prostheses) Like gold. If possible please send the box with the breast form/prosthesis, and put the relevant bras under the plastic mould, in the bottom of the box. These will be given to hospitals for distribution. If sending bras only, without breast forms/prostheses, please put a note in the bag/postpack so we don't miss-sort them.

Swimwear, any size. Swimwear is great for keeping warm if you are standing in the water fishing with a hand line for a couple of hours. It is also handy for coastal women who dive for cash crops.

Underpants, new. A girl without underpants does not go to school during her period.

Fabric Nappies, second hand or new. In some areas, fabric nappies are expensive to buy so mums often buy one disposable at a time. That money is better spent on food for Mum. (Nappies at drop off points in Victoria only please).

Given the number of breastfeeding women in our little community we're really hoping to collect a fair few nursing bras - ANY CONDITION.

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