As women we get up every morning, open our underwear draw, pull out a bra and more often or not think, mmm that one is uncomfortable and shove it back in the drawer for another one. Who can identify with this?
Our campaign is focused on supporting those women that do not have the luxury of choosing a bra or undies in the morning. We host Bra GIfting Events where we provide them with these items and we need your help to provide these events.
How it all Began…
Support The Girls Australia began when the universe connected two people, providing a catalyst for an incredible Journey…
In January 2016, Jane Holmes- the CEO and Founder of Support The Girls Australia- had a chance encounter with a 13 year old girl in a Gold Coast shopping mall. The young girl looked disheveled and hungry and she asked Jane if she had any menstrual hygiene products that she could spare. Jane asked her if she just required one or two pads and she said no she needed a packet as she was homeless. This was alarming to Jane as the young girl came across as very young and naïve. After providing the young girl with menstrual hygiene products, Jane insisted on buying her lunch. During the course of lunch, Jane listened to the girl’s story and discovered that she had run away from home where she was being sexually abused by her step-father.
The 13-year-old girl told Jane that the streets were a safer place for her than home.
Upon further probing, the young girl took Jane to where she was living on the streets. This is where Jane met “Lily” - an elderly, weather-beaten lady. However, behind this gregarious and larger than life woman, was a very sad physical situation. Upon noticing “Lily’s” large bust size, Jane inquired as to why she wasn’t wearing a bra. “Lily” informed Jane that she had not owned a bra for four years and proceeded to show her the severely infected tissue under her breast. Jane was shocked to the core and could see that “lily” was only days away from sepsis. This was a result of weeks of chafing caused by skin on skin and heat.
This meeting had such a profound affect on Jane that she went home and spent months researching organisations that could support Lily or any other women impacted by poverty and homelessness. She could find no organisation that provided this support was free of charge.
This was Jane’s lightbulb moment. She had to ensure that all women or individuals who identified as women, had access to free bras, underwear and toiletries, but more importantly she wanted to provide a way to connect and support women face to face.
About This Project
STGA is a charity dedicated to empowering women with a sense of purpose, dignity and wellbeing. We believe that all individuals that identify as women, no matter what their age, should have access to under garments and menstrual hygiene products.
The aim of the project is to raise funds to be able to host events in the Parramatta Council area. We currently support service providers and their clients, but we are not supporting the community at large. We want to be able to host at least one or possibly two events and give a lot more women access to our support.
This is done through our Bra Gifting Events. These are events whereby we host a beautiful morning tea that women attend free of charge. At these events, they get professionally fitted for bras and then provided with approximately 5 bras depending on size availability. They get new underwear and a complete toiletry care pack. (A standard care pack includes, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, toothbrush, toothpaste and deodorant.)
Why is what we do so important?
We are currently seeing more and more women impacted by financial distress, homelessness and of course domestic violence. The means to purchase personal items for themselves is the last thing on their priority list.
There are far too many women within our communities that simply cannot afford to purchase lingerie or menstrual hygiene products for themselves. This could be a single Mum who would use the $10 she may spend on a packet of underwear on food for her children. The pensioner who is living from week to week with no spare change, who simply cannot even entertain the thought of purchasing a bra. The woman impacted by natural disaster ie the floods. This Mother, Daughter and Granddaughter in the picture below were all made homeless by the Northern River floods and it was a privilege to be able to support them and give them dignity and compassion.
We see too many women come to our events with either no underwear on or what they wearing leaves much to be desired. This is simply unthinkable in a country like ours.
We want to ensure that all women have dignity and can walk out the door feeling good about themselves, have a sense of self-worth but also be able to hold their heads up. We want mothers to be able to go and have a job interview and find employment. Imagine not having a bra and having to go to an interview.
Women play a vital role in our communities. They are the primary caretakers of children and elders, they are our leaders in so many ways. So it is our role to ensure that all women whether they be mother’s, aunties, grandmothers, sisters are empowered with self worth.
What we do is so simple in action, but the outcome for each individual we assist is immeasurable.
