Mary Street bra donations to make a difference at home and across the globe
09 October 2019
Customers and colleagues at our Mary Street extra care scheme in Birmingham have donated hundreds of bras to a breast cancer charity campaign.
As part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Service Manager Val Paragon challenged her colleagues and customers to collect 100 bras for Breast Cancer Haven West Midlands in just seven days.
Falling just short of their target, Val reset the challenge – and 16 days later had 300 bras in five collection boxes!
Breast cancer is something that affects many people and here at Mary Street we will continue collecting the bras throughout Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Breast Cancer Haven – which recently celebrated its second birthday – offers counselling, one to one therapies and general support to anyone affected by a breast cancer diagnosis.
Val said: “I was delighted with the response to my challenge and it was brilliant to be able to take 300 bras to Breast Cancer Haven.
“It is a brilliant number and with the way the campaign works, every single bra donated will help somebody somewhere in the world.
“Breast cancer is something that affects many people and here at Mary Street we will continue collecting the bras throughout Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
“We have already got another 53 bras collected since we donated the 300!”
Better quality bras will be sent across the globe to help support women in less developed countries. Those that are not in the best condition will be recycled, saving them from ending up in landfill.
Ashleigh Adams, Corporate Fundraising Officer at Breast Cancer Haven West Midlands, said: “We are extremely grateful for Val’s tremendous efforts collecting bras for us.
“They will help us raise vital funds for our services. For each kilo of bras we collect we receive funds from our recycling partners.
“Simply put, through collecting bras, Val and everyone at Mary Street has raised funds for local people with breast cancer, supported women internationally and helped the environment. We look forward to working closely with Val again in the future.”