This Manche association offers 12,000 hats and accessories per year to sick people

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Created in 2013, the association Les Chapeaux de Martine helps sick people every year hair loss victimsby offering them headwear and other accessories, sewn by hand all over the country, from now on.

An association that has developed nationally

It was in Orval-sur-Sienne that this crazy adventure, which did not really promise to be one, began. Thérèse Dubois, president of the association for a year, says: “Martine, a resident of the town, had two cancers, and so her daughters, who were both milliners, decided to create hats for her, so that it can protect her head from the cold and the sun, but also so that she retains a little femininity and comfort. »

Following this, Martine and her daughters decided to create Les Chapeaux de Martine in October 2013in order to make and send head coverings on a voluntary basis to “sick people who were losing their hair due to their illnesses”. We think, among other things, of cancers, alopecia or “alopecia universalis”.

Since then, the association has become known, especially during Pink Octoberand has developed almost everywhere in France.

A great collective effort

From “seven or eight” volunteers at the beginning, today the association brings together 225 volunteerswho meet to sew by hand, in workshops spread across the country.

To make hats, you need to purchase fabric and have funds to ship. A membership price was therefore set at €2, but above all, donations from companies and individuals are regularly made, and some partners offer their fabric scraps to the association. “Events are also organized and we are often given the money collected,” explains Thérèse Dubois.

In short, if each year thousands of patients receive free head coveringsit is thanks to the collective effort of different actors.

12,000 accessories offered per year to patients

Moreover, in addition to headgear of all kinds (bobs, bonnets, caps, etc.), heart-shaped cushions and belt protectors“to relieve the pain of mastectomies”, are also made by the little hands of the association, as are neck supports, adapted bras, or bags to hide drains.

In total, there are around “12,000 accessories on average each year”, which are offered and sent free of charge by the association, to patients who order or to hospitals.

What bring a little comfort to those who need it.

If you are sick, you can order accessories in reasonable quantities, by sending a message, accompanied by the photo of the product that interests you, on the Facebook page: Martine's hats

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