Forget the usual women’s month speeches and bouquets of flowers.
At Cedar Lakes on August 14, women arrived with bubbles, bras, toiletries, and a willingness to do something that actually mattered. Hosted by Lisa Sukdev, of Sotheby’s International Realty, in association with the Care Bears at Cedar Lakes, the second annual Bubbles and Bras event brought women together for an afternoon of laughter, friendship, and celebration, but with a purpose tucked beneath all the fun.

There was a time when women burnt their bras in protest against inequality. At Bubbles and Bras, they were buying them along with panties and donating them to ZABra, an organisation that provides new and gently worn bras, as well as new underwear, to women who may never have had access to these basic necessities, because sometimes empowerment isn’t a grand gesture. Sometimes it is simply giving another woman something many of us take for granted: Clean underwear of her own.

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Guests also brought toiletries for the Douglasdale Police Station gender-based violence (GBV) desk, which will distribute them to victims of gender-based violence. Shampoo, soap, deodorant, sanitary products, and other everyday essentials might seem small, but for a woman who has experienced abuse and suddenly finds herself vulnerable or displaced, they can mean comfort, dignity, and a reminder that someone cares.

“For me, empowerment isn’t always about doing something enormous,” said Sukdev. “Sometimes it is simply looking around your own community, seeing where there is a need, and deciding that you can do something about it. When enough of us do one small thing, those small things become something incredibly powerful.”

Now in its second year, Bubbles and Bras is becoming an annual Cedar Lakes tradition, a celebration of women that extends beyond the room and reaches women who need support most, and perhaps that is the part worth remembering long after the bubbles have gone flat. “You don’t need a huge organisation, an enormous budget, or hundreds of people to make a difference. Start where you are. Collect toiletries. Donate clothing. Feed someone. Visit someone who is lonely. Support a local charity. Gather a few friends around a cause that matters to you.”

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Sukdev said community isn’t simply where we live; it is how we choose to live alongside one another. “When women uses their collective strength to restore dignity to another woman, that is more than charity. That is empowerment.”

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