Franklin Women’s Club Gathers Donations For ‘Free The Girls’ Initiative

Lace Silhouettes’ Maureen Soto with some of the donated bras. Photo: Franklin Township Women’s Club.

Nearly 600 bras and $280 in cash donation was gathered by the Franklin Women’s Club and partner businesses to aid an organization helping women freed from human trafficking.

The Women’s Club partnered with Bedminster-based Personally Yours Lingerie and Lace Silhouettes Lingerie, which has a location in Princeton, among others, according to a press release from the club.

The garments and money was collected for the “Free the Girls Initiative”, an international non-profit organization devoted to providing survivors of human trafficking with a path to freedom and financial stability.  The organization helps women in developing countries build their own businesses selling second-hand clothing while going to school, thereby allowing them to financially maintain their homes and care for their families, according to the release.

To achieve this goal, the Free the Girls organization collects new and gently used bras, which according to the organizations’ founders, (missionaries Dave and Amy Terpstra), are considered a luxury item and command top dollar in the used clothing markets of developing countries, the release said. Free the Girls is currently in place in El Salvador and Mozambique.

The stores received donations from their customers and employees, and also donated their own, new merchandise, according to the release.

In total, 585 bras were collected in the effort, according to the release.

Cash donations to help offset shipping costs of the bras can be made by sending a check to the Franklin Woman’s Club, indicating “Free the Girls” in the memo space of your check.  Mail to: Franklin Woman’s Club, PO Box 5793, Somerset, NJ 08875.

Women interested in learning more, becoming a member or checking out upcoming  events such as the Worldwide Day of Public Knitting (to Fight Child Abuse) – (Saturday, June 9th), the Paint & Sip Night (Friday, June 15) and the Wine Tasting at Old York Cellars (Sunday October 7), may visit www.franklinwomansclub.com,can email inquiries to: franklinwomansclub@gmail.com or may call (732) 844-9002. Follow the club’s activities on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/.franklinwomansclub.

Franklin Woman’s Club Meetings are held at Franklin High School, 500 Elizabeth Avenue, Somerset, on the 2ndTuesday of the Month (7pm) (September through May), with some off-site meetings. The Franklin Woman’s Club is a member of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs (GFWC), the largest international organization of volunteer women in the world. The GFWC serves as the umbrella organization for its 50 state clubs known as “Federations” (such as the New Jersey State Federation of Women’s Clubs – NJSFWC). The Franklin Woman’s Club is a member of the NJSFWC, New Jersey’s largest volunteer organization.

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