To ask you to take a moment to help support women in refuges this winter?

[Mogz]

I hope I'm not, please come join us over in _chat and show some love to Project Shoebox and the women they help support through donations of toiletries and cosmetics to Women's Aid refuges.
thread here

Bump

Thank you :-)

No problem!

Might be worth posting in relationships too.......

Ooh look, that's another bump

Awesome! I'd love to do something to help women in refuges but hadn't heard of this initiative. Thanks for sharing. YANBU!

Good idea Fox I'll wander over there now

Brilliant idea - will tootle over too.

Bump!

Thanks all, here's hoping this afternoon finds us another handful of lovely people

Well done OP for highlighting this.
I have been doing collections (which I organise and distribute) to our local women's refuges for years now.

One of the things that they specifically asked for was good quality, soft tissues, because of all the crying

Also, the children along with their mothers come in with nothing but the clothes on their backs and so good quality used toys are always welcomed as each child is given a little pile of toys when they arrive to keep so they have something.

New toys and selection boxes are also requested to give as gifts to the children on Christmas day too.

All of this alongside the more obvious stuff like toiletries, toilet paper etc which are desperately needed.

I'm really glad to hear that there is a bigger initiative going on and hope that your thread raises the profile.

Thank you Damn it is so so very sad that this is all needed, I really hope one day we can shelve the shoebox. Buy for now we will do what we can and keep bothering strangers on the Internet for some bars of soap :-D

Will be shopping for nice things on Monday!

Thank you, that is so kind

Bumping for Mondays should be working but actually skiving traffic...

I am taking a very large fruit box full of stuff to my local drop off on Friday (sadly I dont have any shoe boxes!). Will be taking my daughter for a shop beforehand to get some more bits, hoping it will be a little yearly tradition for her.

I am actually more excited by this than taking her to see Santa.

Good gracious, would you look at that - a bump!

Aww liquid that's lovely. We all get very excited by it too!

This is a wonderful idea.

DD and I lived in a refuge for a few months when she was little, about 12 years ago. It was an unsettlinh time for us both in many ways but living there was incredibly positive - for the first time in years we weren't terrified, and the support we received was life-changing. The sleep I had on the first night there was the best night's sleep I have ever had.

We arrived with nothing - the clothes we stood up in and all the money in my purse (a princely 32p). Thanks to wonderful donations from local foodbanks and drives like this, we were able to have a hot meal and lovely bubbly baths and clean our teeth before bed. Never, ever underestimate the power of such seemingly innocuous items to somebody in that position - I actually wept at the gift of a bottle of deodorant

These donations will make a massive difference, they really will. DD and I will certainly be doing our bit!

Ooh can i donate toys to any womens aid refuge?

I've looked up my local drop off point (well, not that local, but I'll work something out ) and shared on FB.
Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Thanks for the heads-up.

I pass on the DCs toys to the local refuge but never thought to get anything special for the women.

And I like the idea of getting selection boxes. Might see what advent calendars are out there too...

Thank you so much for all your replies, especially those wonderful women who have shared their own experiences with us.
I find this project a very emotional thing to be a part of, it makes me so proud to see people come together to make a change for good in a stranger's life, but so heart wrenchingly sad that it is needed.