PURSE DRIVE IN VIRGINIA

When we in the Virginia Chapter heard about the Women Helping Women initiative that was started in the Arizona Chapter, we immediately set to work to do a similar purse and backpack drive to help out women and children in local Virginia shelters.

The Northern Virginia community ladies rallied and began collecting gently-used purses and backpacks, went to thrift stores and bought nice purses and backpacks, and went to community stores to get donations of practical items to put into the purses. There are so many people to thank for supporting the Women Helping Women Initiative in Northern Virginia!

Finally, on May 4, Carmella Ciemny and I, delivered all the items to "The Women's Empowerment Center," a shelter for women and their children. The shelter's goal is to help those who are there to become self-supporting and able to move back into the community. The items were received by three staff members who were incredibly impressed with the collection of donated articles. They were especially grateful for the boxes of brand new toiletries, including: shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, and so much more, contributed by another hard-working WFWP Virginia member, Mrs. Misako Connery.

The Women's Empowerment Center is connected with two other shelters, so when they saw the labeling on the boxes of what exactly was in each box, they were overjoyed as that meant they could easily share the supplies with all the shelters.