The local nonprofit I Support The Girls was chosen by The Kelly Clarkson Show as its 2024 Good Neighbor of the Year and received a $100,000 donation from Starbucks.
Dana Marlowe, founder of the Wheaton-based organization and a resident of Silver Spring, celebrated on the show’s stage, jumping for joy after receiving the honors for her efforts in distributing 36 million bras and feminine hygiene products.
Marlowe previously appeared on The Kelly Clarkson Show last March, with I Support The Girls receiving a $10,000 donation from sponsor Pilot Corporation, along with matching contributions from TODAY Show co-anchor Hoda Kotb and Grammy Award-winning country singer Lainey Wilson’s Heart Like a Truck Fund, totaling $60,000.
Marlowe told MCM that she intends to use the new $100,000 donation to create multiple pop-up giveaway locations in food deserts throughout the DMV area, where the nonprofit will provide free bras, underwear, menstrual items, and toiletries.
According to MoCo360, I Support The Girls has distributed over 500,000 products in December alone and expects to reach 11 million by the end of 2024 through its Rockville warehouse and 51 affiliate locations worldwide.
“It’s just been a very, very wild ride,” Marlowe said to MCM.
“With I Support the Girls, we’ve been talking non-stop,” Marlowe wrote on the nonprofit’s website. “It is a conversation that has flourished across the United States and now, even globally. Our vast network of volunteers stands up for women by donating the bras and menstrual hygiene products to promote a more healthy and dignified lifestyle.
“With the tremendous supply of these products and the high demand, it felt right to marry the two.
“In just over 7 years, I’ve built out an infrastructure with an amazing team of dedicated individuals,” Marlowe continued. “I Support the Girls has created a national clearinghouse to encourage affiliates to collect locally and distribute locally in their communities.”