Women collect around 1,500 bras for Montreal homeless shelters

It’s an unusual way to spend a Tuesday morning: Evelyn Benchimol and Alexandra Malka sorting through hundreds of bras.

Though they still haven’t counted all of them, the women think they’ve collected around 1,500.

“It blows my mind,” said Benchimol. “From like a small minute idea — the response was not what I imagined.”

Benchimol came up with the idea of collecting bras for homeless women two months ago.

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Once she shared her project on social media, she met Malka, who offered up her baby store, Bébé Kelly Green, as a drop-off point to anyone who wanted to donate.

They had hoped to collect a few bras and a bring a box or two to a local homeless shelter, but what they got was far more than that.

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As a result of the overwhelming donations, the women will be delivering just over 200 bras to over half a dozen shelters, including Chez Doris, Shield of Athena, the Old Brewery, and the Welcome Hall Mission.

“We don’t usually think of homeless women, we may not notice them on the street because they may not look like the typical image we have of a homeless person and a lot of them are there with children,” said Benchimol. “So it’s sad and it sparked something in us that we want to help.”

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Although the bra drive is officially over, the women say they will continue helping homeless women.

They’re already starting to organize new donation drives that they will take on together in the new year.