In some disadvantaged countries, bras are seen as a luxury item – particularly when spending money on food and education take priority.
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The Uplift Project has sent more than one million bras to women in need since 2005.
The Cessnock Olaves program (a Girl Guides unit for women aged 18 to 30) collected more than 120 bras for the campaign this year.
Between the Coastal Valleys and North Coast Pacific Girl Guide regions, 1400 bras were collected for the Uplift Project and are currently waiting in Sydney for the next shipment to Fiji in November.
Cessnock Olaves liaison Lauren Gray said the group would like to thank everyone who donated to the campaign.
They had collection boxes at Cessnock MP Clayton Barr’s office, LJ Hooker Cessnock, Cessnock City Library and Betta Electrical Kurri Kurri.
“I was overwhelmed by the support we received from the community in helping us help those less fortunate,” Ms Gray said.
“If you missed out or have found more bras, we will be running the project again next year so don’t lose them!”
The Olave program in NSW and the ACT collected bras and money for the Uplift Project from April to July.
Ms Gray (from Cessnock District Girl Guides) and Libby Cotter from the Branxton unit attended an Olave and Friends camp in Port Macquarie in July, where they participated in a working bee to sort out and box up bras for the Uplift Project.
Uplift (with assistance from Intimo and Rotary Australia World Community Service) has sent bras to women in underprivileged nations including Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Cook Islands, Tonga, Solomon Islands, Philippines, Bali, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, the Northern Territory and the Kimberley regions in Australia.
It accepts bras of all shapes and sizes, in good condition, including crop tops, nursing bras, mastectomy bras and breast forms (prostheses) and swimwear, plus new underpants and fabric nappies, second hand or new.
