With the annual Texarkana Mardi Gras celebration a group of local women take the opportunity for Mardi-BRAS, a chance to reach out and help other women in need of the most intimate of items and sanitary needs.
We spoke to Cathy Smith about Mardi-BRAS Texarkana, how the program began and how we can help. Sharing what she calls her spiel, Cathy told us,
Womenfolk!!! We all have that one…or ten…stories about THAT TIME OF THE MONTH!!! Each and every single one of us has had “that moment” when mother nature comes to call and we are nowhere near prepared. We don’t have a tampon or a pad. Now…take that scenario and add, “and I was homeless and had no money” to the mix. Didn’t think of that did ya? What would YOU do if you needed feminine hygiene products but you were on the street with no job, no money, no help?
She went on to explain how the movement started and how you can help,
Mardi Bras Texarkana is a movement started by a few local women in order to not only raise
awareness but raise funds and collect donations for local homeless…or women who just can’t afford to take care of their monthly needs…with bras, panties, pads and tampons for that time of the month. We will be accepting donations of feminine hygiene products, bras, panties, purses and backpacks. Drop off points are Randy Sams at 402 Oak Street, Be the Blessing Bakery at 1915 Olive, and Heat It Up at 115 Main Street. At this time we are working on adding more drop points. Should you want to make a monetary donations, checks can be made out to Randy Sams’ Outreach Shelter and there is a paypal donation link on their website: http://www.randysams.org/donate/
This is the third year that the local women have stepped up to organize the donations,
The last two years we were able to collect enough feminine hygiene products and donations to cover the monthly needs of 100 women for an entire year. It’s time to meet those needs again.
