8th annual ‘Bras from Bend’ fights human trafficking

For the month of April, Soroptimist International of Bend will be placing their collection Bra Boxes at participating retail businesses to help bring awareness to the fight against international human trafficking.

These garments help create a pathway to a better life for a woman rescued from the sex slave trade in Africa and Latin America, specifically, Mozambique, El Salvador and Costa Rica. SI Bend partners with Free th e Girls (www.FreeTheGirls.org), a non-profit organization, to send the donated bras to these locations.

SI Bend’s outreach program, “Bras from Bend,” is a testament to the Soroptimist mission Best for Women . The “Bras” project is made of women in Central Oregon helping other women halfway around the world.

The simple act of a donation of a gently used (or new) bra will help a woman become an entrepreneur who sells these garments thus empowering her to create a better life for herself and family.

Bras may seem an ordinary item for women in our country. To women of sub-Sahara Africa and in some countries of Latin America, they are a luxury item, which improve lives socially and economically.

Believing in acting globally, as well as locally, SI Bend also shares collected garments with women’s shelters in our own community.

The Annual “Bras from Bend” Boxes are at the following locations in Bend during April.

For more information, visit www.sibend.org .

Bella Studio 2150 NE Studio Road, Bend

The Cutting Club , 1335 NW Galveston

Deschutes Children’s Foundation – East Bend Campus, 2125 NE Daggett Lane

The Little Hair Shoppe, 2669 NE Twin Knolls Drive, Bend

Prosthetics by Lynda, 345 NE Norton, Bend

QuiltWorks , 926 NE Greenwood, Bend