One Wylie teenager is collecting donations for an often-overlooked area of life.

Carrie Dobbs, 17, is in the process of completing her Gold Award project for Girl Scouts. She decided to partner with the organization I Support the Girls, a nonprofit dedicated to helping homeless girls and women, to collect bras and feminine hygiene products.

“A year ago I had to buy my own box of tampons for the first time and it was a lot of money,” she said. “I went on a rant to my mom and a light bulb went off in my head – how do homeless women have access to these things? I took to Google and that’s how I found [I Support the Girls]. I thought, ‘How can I make a project out of this?’ It kind of flourished from there.”

So far, Carrie has collected 161 bras and 43 packages of feminine products. She has a handful of days in which she leaves a box at First United Methodist Church of Plano, and people can drop off products and new or gently used bras. Everything, from booking her spot at the church to designing her flyers, has been done single-handedly.

The next collection drop-off days will be May 11, May 25 and June 1, with the possibility of an extension.

For the full story, see the May 9 issue or subscribe online.

By Morgan Howard • [email protected]