HERS Breast Cancer Foundation :: Bras for Body & Soul

FAQs

The HERS Breast Cancer Foundation, a 501(c)(3) a non-profit organization, provides programs and services supporting the needs of women and families affected by breast cancer in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Bras for Body & Soul is a specialty bra shop and extended services for all women, including women who have had breast surgery, in order to make a positive difference in women's lives.

News >> Hospital Board Approves Contract: Washington to pay $3.7 million for new offices, bra shop

The Argus of Fremont, Newark and Union City, March 14, 2003
by Tom Anderson, Staff Writer

The Washington Hospital board has approved a $3.7 million construction contract to renovate the Washington West building with offices for staff and a nonprofit specialty bra store.

Acme Construction Co. of Modesto was awarded the contract Wednesday night by a unanimous vote of the board.

"This is all a part of our master plan," hospital CEO Nancy Farber said. "We need to get all the pieces in place so we can build a new emergency room."

Bras for Body & Soul, a nonprofit shop that offers women more than 200 sizes in bras, will move into 1,300 square feet of office space at the Washington West building near the corner of Paseo Padre Parkway and Mowry Avenue.

"I have all sorts of bra sizes -- from double A to N," said Tricia McMahon, owner of Bras for Body & Soul. A former nun who also is president of the HERS Breast Cancer Foundation, she has been selling bras in Fremont since 1996. She converted her for-profit business into a nonprofit in January.

"Selling bras and women's health go hand and hand. Most bras might look cute, but they don't fit properly. That can affect a woman's breasts, neck, shoulders and back," McMahon said. She also provides bras for women who have lost a breast due to cancer.

McMahon runs her business near Washington Hospital on Stivers Street. She plans to move by next year into a space twice as big as her current shop.

"Right now, I feel like I'm a plant in too small of a pot," McMahon said. She wants to hire more bra-fitters once she moves to the Washington West building.

Privately held Acme Construction will build McMahon's shop. The company is not new to Washington renovation contracts.

In August 2001, Acme Construction began renovating the sixth-floor patient wing. The floor, housing offices and 37 beds for patients, was completed last May. That contract was worth $3.6 million.

Hospital spokesman Chris Brown said the current renovation contract was a competitive-bid process with eight companies vying for the business.

In addition to Bras for Body & Soul, Acme Construction will make offices for some hospital staff, including employees in the administration, case management, communications and strategic planning departments.

"About 70 members of the staff in mobile office units will move into Washington West building once the renovation is complete," Brown said.

Currently, those staff members are housed in trailers on the corner of Civic Center Drive and BART Way.