When parents are diagnosed with breast or gynecologic cancer, the healthcare system presents them with an impossible contradiction: while the Affordable Care Act covers breast pumps, it provides no equivalent coverage for the infant formula or donor milk medically required when breastfeeding is no longer possible.
Bobbie and The Breasties set out to change that.
What began as a partnership to provide immediate support through the Bobbie Breasties program evolved into a five-year effort to address the policy itself. Together, the organizations worked alongside survivors, previvors, thrivers, caregivers, medical professionals, and lawmakers to transform a gap in care into a legislative solution.
The objective was twofold: ensure families received immediate feeding support while building lasting systemic change through the Constance C. McDaniel Medically Necessary Infant Formula and Donor Milk Act, or Connie's Bill, landmark legislation that Bobbie for Change co-created, designed to create a pilot to cover donor milk and infant formula for parents impacted by medical necessity.
The campaign demonstrates how sustained collaboration between a purpose-driven company and nonprofit partner can move beyond charitable giving to reshape public policy.
Bobbie's partnership with The Breasties was never designed as a one-time charitable initiative. From the beginning (in 2020 – before Bobbie had product on shelf!), both organizations recognized that providing free formula to families that medically needed it, addressed an immediate need but not the systemic barrier preventing families from accessing medically necessary nutrition.
Together, they launched the Bobbie Breasties program, providing a full year of free infant formula to parents affected by breast and gynecologic cancers who could not medically breastfeed. Over time, the program became more than a resource—it became a community. Families shared their experiences, survivors identified recurring barriers, and a clear policy gap emerged: federal law recognized the need for breast pumps but not for the medically necessary nutrition many families required instead. Since 2020, through this program, Bobbie has supported 615 Bobbie Breasties and made $1M in infant formula donations.
Rather than accepting that inequity, Bobbie and The Breasties worked alongside survivors, healthcare providers, policy experts, and congressional offices to develop a legislative solution. The resulting proposal, Connie's Bill, was inspired by Connie McDaniel, one of the original Bobbie Breasties whose advocacy continued even after her breast cancer diagnosis. Named in her honor, the bill seeks to establish a pilot program covering medically necessary infant formula and donor milk for families who cannot breastfeed because of medical conditions.
The campaign culminated in a Capitol Hill advocacy day where survivors, caregivers, and members of the Bobbie Breasties community met directly with lawmakers to share the real-world impact of the policy gap. Bobbie documented the effort, launched a Write Your Rep campaign to mobilize public support, and used its platform to elevate community voices rather than speak on their behalf.
Throughout the six-year partnership, Bobbie's role remained consistent: listen first, build with the community, and use its resources to help transform lived experience into lasting policy change.
Five years of collaboration culminated in the introduction of Connie's Bill, federal legislation designed to close a longstanding healthcare gap affecting families who medically cannot breastfeed. We learned of the news of the introduction in the middle of our lobby day in DC, while we were actively sharing the necessity for the bill.
The partnership has supported more than 615 families through the Bobbie Breasties program while building the evidence and community necessary to advocate for systemic reform. Connie's Bill launched with endorsements from 177 medical professionals, bringing unprecedented attention to an overlooked issue in infant feeding and cancer care, nearly 13,000 letters to lawmakers, and 20,000+ petition signatures to solve the policy gap.
Beyond legislative progress, the campaign demonstrated a new model for corporate social impact. Rather than ending with philanthropy, Bobbie and The Breasties translated years of direct service into policy advocacy, ensuring the experiences of survivors and caregivers directly informed the proposed solution.
The result is a blueprint for how sustained public-private partnerships can move from meeting immediate needs to advancing lasting structural change for future families.
