Honoring Victims of Domestic Violence This Mother’s Day

It is so easy to feel overwhelmed when thinking about what one person can do in the face of all the need there is in the world.

Imagine if you will, you and your family are dressed in your finest, out for a special brunch or dinner this Mother’s Day, enjoying time together, a great meal and celebrating all the mothers in your family.

Now, imagine across town, there’s another mother who has just escaped an abusive relationship. She has literally gone into hiding with her children and is spending her Mother’s Day surrounded by strangers, and with few if any personal possessions. You see women who come to shelters arrive with little more than the clothes on their backs, rarely having the opportunity to pack personal items, extra clothing or even basic toiletries.

At a time like this, when your self esteem is at an all time low, something as simple as having your own bottle of shampoo, maybe a little fragrance, can lift the spirits. Make-up has a magical way of helping a woman feel better about the way she looks and feels, and that can be the first step toward rebuilding her self confidence. When you can begin to believe in yourself again, there is also the beginning of hope for the future.

Here is a simple and inexpensive, yet meaningful outreach project anyone can do this Mother’s Day (May 8th) to honor mothers struggling to bring peace to their families . . .

Mothers Day Gift Bags

• Using clear cello bags you can pick up at any craft store, fill the bags with a few sample size products such as lip gloss or lipstick, maybe an eye shadow and a fragrance sample, small bottles of shampoo, shower gel and body lotion.
• Travel products are the perfect size and you can usually find a good, inexpensive selection at stores such as Kmart or Wal-Mart. If you’re a fan of Avon, they always have great .99 cent deals on lip glosses and travel size toiletry products. (Just keep in mind advance order time required with Avon – they’re promoting Mother’s Day right now.)
• Your gift bags can either be simply secured with a pretty ribbon or, depending on your time and budget, you can add colorful gift tags with a thoughtful message or instead of using a ribbon fold the top of the bag over and secure it with an attractive sticker.
• To determine how many gift bags to make, contact the local domestic violence advocacy agency in your area. Where I live the agency is Women Helping Women, and I know they have agencies throughout the country so that’s a good place to start. Also, the location of domestic shelters is almost always confidential to prevent abusers from finding their victims, so you’ll want to make arrangements with the staff for delivery.

While it is certainly possible for one person to organize this, the project can take on even more meaning if done as a family or among a group of friends.  When I first came up with this idea a few years ago I got a group of my friends involved and we organized a “Ladies Night” to assemble our gift bags.  In addition to the toiletries we’d collected we added sample sizes of make-up, colorful foil wrapped Hershey Candies and cards with small vials of fragrance.

Tip: I like the fragrance vials much better than the sample fragrance packets because for about the same price you get more than one application.  You can order fragrance samples from Avon at a very low cost - but you have to ask your Representative because they usually aren’t in the brochure . . . in fact, if you’re friends with your Avon Repr get her involved and maybe she’ll share her discount with you for these products!

The two important things I have learned are that you are as powerful and strong as you allow yourself to be, and that the most difficult part of any endeavor is taking the first step, making the first decision.
~Robyn Davidson

It is so easy to feel overwhelmed when thinking about what one person can do in the face of all the need there is in the world. Personally, I believe life is in the details and ongoing small gestures can mean so much more than waiting for the right opportunity to contribute on a grand scale.

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