The article has been automatically translated into English by Google Translate from Russian and has not been edited.

The Incredible Story of Maryland Fairy Bras

'30.08.2017'

Source: Dcist

Dana Marlow from Maryland would never have thought she would get such an original title as “Fairy Bras”. What was intended as a one-time action to help poor women turned into quite a solid volunteer movement. He writes about it Dcist.

Dana Marlowe. Photo: @danamarlowe

Marlowe was a successful, successful social entrepreneur who heads an information technology consulting company that focuses on providing affordable technology for people with disabilities.

And until the events of two years ago, she did not pay attention to the problems and needs of poor women.

“I didn’t dream about it, I didn’t have a marketing plan or a business plan, I didn’t conduct a competitive analysis, I just faced this situation and understood that I needed to do something using my experience as an entrepreneur,” she says.

When Dana's age mark began to approach 40 years, she decided to take care of her health. After 12 months of dieting and training, she was able to lose weight by more than 15 a kilogram.

The woman's shape parameters changed and she decided to go to the boutique Soma Lingerie in Bethesda to buy a new suitable lingerie. On the way, Marlowe wondered what to do with the laundry that now lies in her house.

“I asked the sales manager - can you repair bras like computers? She laughed and asked me: "Are you an IT contractor?", I answered "How did you know?", - laughing, recalls Marlowe.

“I know what I’m talking about, I have wonderful bras at home, they are all made of high quality materials and are quite expensive, but I don’t know yet what can be done with them,” added Dana.

A Soma sales partner said four really important words to Dana that I hadn't really considered before. She told me that “homeless women need bras,” Marlowe recalls.

In addition, it turned out that twice a year the store arranges a collection of donations for poor women and one of them has recently ended. Waiting for six months for Marlow seemed painfully long.

Bras are surprisingly difficult to make from a technical point of view, and they are almost always handmade.

A “daytime” bra in Victoria's Secret costs about 40 dollars.

Even less expensive clothing is a luxury that most low-income women cannot afford, let alone things like tampons and pads.

“If you don’t have these things, you’re thinking about it all the time,” says Alicia Horton, CEO of Thrive DC, a non-profit organization that provides services to the homeless and vulnerable.

After doing some research and learning about DCist's efforts at Thrive DC to provide bras and pads for homeless women, Marlow gave a non-commercial appeal and asked if they could use 16 neatly used bras.

The organization said yes and told Marlow that they also need tampons and pads.

“It was then that shocked me what it was like to be a woman in need and have critical days without being able to buy pads or tampons,” she says.

After Dana rethought this information, she collected not 16 bras, but 46 along with a donation to the pads. And then I thought that almost every woman has boxes with unused bras.

“Linen and hygiene items are dignity. So many women I have spoken to use old leather belts to support their breasts.

A woman told me that she has two children, they are 8 and 9 years old, and she cannot afford a bra, because all her money is spent on food for children.

Or, “I can't buy tampons because I need hot food or feed my baby,” says Marlowe.

“So they are going to use cardboard or use a ripped t-shirt, or use paper towels and masking tape and do what they have to do. So it's about dignity. ”

She wrote a post on her Facebook page with a call to donate unwanted underwear and collect some donations.

One small gesture turned into a whole movement. Marlowe received such a huge number of reposts and comments that she decided to create a separate group “Support Girls”.

Within a few months, her friends and friends, friends, relatives, colleagues, friends in the yoga studio, and almost everyone Dana had ever come across responded to her call.

Even two children of Marlowe were involved in this event - they were returning from school with full backpacks of bras that their classmates' mothers collected.

When the action acquired an unbelievable scale - 1051 bra and 7100 menstrual hygiene packages, Dana decided to set an ending date for collecting donations. And then a journalist from the Washington Post wrote about her.

“At that time, I thought that I had already done everything I could, but I was wrong,” says Dana.
After an article in the newspaper, her phone became unusable.

Incoming calls, messages in social networks, e-mail - everything turned out to be inundated with requests for interviews, offers for help, words of support.

Dana faced a different choice. Stop the whole squall of caring people or continue all this and go completely to another level.

Marlowe woke her husband in the early morning and asked him to help create of the website.
Most people who already work for 50-60 hours per week usually do not take on additional work starting with non-commercial activities.

But Marlowe saw the need and had experience in the field of social entrepreneurship, well suited to solve it.

The number of messages in various messengers made it clear to Dana that people are not just interested in donating, in fact, it is a huge need for the majority to donate and receive donations.

There is a Jewish teaching: "You are not obliged to do the work, but you also cannot refuse it."
“I didn't refuse,” says Marlowe.

After 4 a month after that memorable conversation in a lingerie store, Dana had already organized the work quite professionally. Before that, Marlowe received all the packages right home, but over time she had to use the PO Box. A year later, all the post office workers not only knew who Marlow was, but also kept her phone number.

Once Dana had to leave for several weeks, so when she returned she had to make four trips by minibus to the post office in order to transport all the parcels.

With the help of volunteers around the world, Marlowe has established an affiliate network, allowing people across the country to accurately reproduce what she has done, and is still doing, in the DC region: gather bras and distribute them locally.

Photo: @danamarlowe

Support for partner groups of girls is located in dozens of US cities and five countries, which employ more than 75 volunteers.

The numbers in such a short time are staggering: 135 000 bras and 850 000 menstrual hygiene products in less than a year.

Most of them are sent directly to local communities, in the same region where they were donated. These can be homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters, refugee homes, child care facilities, LGBTQ agencies and homes for pregnant teenagers.

Photo: @danamarlowe

Supporting Girls also provides disaster relief, and they are currently working on getting thousands of bras, tampons and pads for displaced women in Texas.

Marlowe became famous throughout the country for her efforts, which helped to open long-overdue conversations about the specific needs of women facing homelessness.

“Menstruation is still a taboo for conversations, and I do help for such days, I speak in front of thousands of people, and I am a very responsive, normal person,” says Marlowe.

“I am not a medical professional, I am not a social worker. I have never spoken to people before now, and now I go out on stage and I hold tampons and bras in my hands. ”

The legislators were influenced by such frankness and activism at the grassroots level, the introduction of laws in several states in order to exempt menstrual products from sales tax and work on getting free products in schools, shelters for the homeless and prisons. The DC Council voted last year to end the tax on feminine hygiene products and diapers for children and adults, although it has not yet been implemented.

In the end, Marlowe took the title of "fairy bras", although it is not clear where to get a set of wings.

“I think I'm just someone who is just ready to do something. And I think it's really important for people to be heard - it's something that anyone can do to give to others. It is not necessary that you understand this. I didn't think I was going to talk about bras, tampons and pads, ”she says.

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