West Island women organize bra drive for Montreal homeless

Simone King, Evelyn Benchimol and Alexandra Malka met simply by “fate.”

“I had a garage sale over the weekend, and I met this lovely lady, Simone,” said Benchimol.

“She came to buy some baskets and we got to talking. She organizes donations for many organizations and she told me Chez Doris, a women’s shelter, is in need of bras.”

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Benchimol decided she wanted to organize a bra drive.

She posted about it on Facebook and got flooded with replies.

Alexandra Malka, owner of Bébé Kelly Green in Dollard-des-Ormeaux (DDO), saw the post and immediately got in touch.

“I saw her trying to manage. Everybody was saying ‘I’ll drop them off, give me your address,’ and what not. So, I said, ‘maybe I can facilitate,’ because I have a store here and I have storage,” said Malka.

“It’s easier because I have opening hours and people can drop it off here.”

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The women say they realize collecting bras to donate for the homeless may be a bit of an intimate endeavour, but it’s an essential piece of clothing that many may not think to donate.

“It’s something that doesn’t get donated enough,” said King.

“It’s not something people think of, but it’s a necessity. I mean, could you imagine, going through life, not having the necessities as a women that you need?”

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The women say all of the bras will distributed to Chez Doris and the Old Brewery Mission.

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Mission president Matthew Pearce told Global News bras are one of the items that shelters are in need of the most.

“The Old Brewery Mission is the largest service provider for homeless women in all of Canada, so it’s a huge need,” said Pearce.

“This is a great initiative, we support it entirely and we hope it’s successful. It’ll be a great help for us.”

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The three new friends say they want to organize more donation drives in the near future.

Donations for the bra drive can be made at Bébé Kelly Green at 3750 des Sources Boulevard in DDO.