By Heather Graves
Editor
BROWN COUNTY – The mission of community charity Purses for Hope is to allow ladies know they are not by itself.
“In its easiest kind, Handbags For Hope is an business run by women, to help women of all ages who could not be able to assist them selves,” Co-founder Kathy Kurowski mentioned.
The effort began in February 2016 by 3 regional academics – Kurowski, an Ashwaubenon kindergarten teacher, Environmentally friendly Bay West Substantial Faculty teacher Elona Winslow and Bernie Donovan, a speech language pathologist for the Howard-Suamico Faculty District.
The business collects carefully-utilised purses and fills them with individual cleanliness and beauty solutions for gals who may not be in a circumstance to purchase them themselves.
“The ladies we donate our handbags to frequently do not have a lot of manage more than what is occurring in their lives,” Kurowski explained. “They may perhaps have escaped a harmful condition, have shed a job or have nowhere to transform.”
All baggage are tagged with a neglect-me-not flower brand, which Kurowski said retains special that means.
“I chose the neglect-me-not symbol for Handbags for Hope for the reason that there are a whole lot of girls who may well feel like they are overlooked or overlooked,” she stated, “and by providing a purse to an individual, I hope they certainly truly feel like they are not neglected or forgotten.”
Kurowski mentioned many persons often consider matters for granted.
“The homeless group here in Inexperienced Bay is a little hidden,” she mentioned. “I have found some stuff on the net in which folks hand points out in New York and Chicago – it is visible. Even in Madison, it is incredibly visible. But I know in our place we have (a homeless inhabitants), but it’s not as seen, and I required to be part of an group that would give back to that part of our group.”
Because its inception, Handbags for Hope has provided around 3,000 purses to girls in eight different states.
“While a excellent bulk are specified out domestically or during Wisconsin, people today who vacation have offered to deliver for us,” Kurowski reported. “I have close friends who have traveled with their church to Tennessee and Kentucky on mission journeys and have taken purses with them. My church, St. John the Baptist, helps make a annually trip to Mississippi and can take hundreds. We had been lucky sufficient to donate purses this 12 months to the Afghan refugees at Fort McCoy. We not only deliver to shelters in the spot, but foodstuff pantries as effectively.
Kurowski mentioned recipients can oftentimes get their foodstuff needs met by means of other organizations, but not essentially cleanliness supplies.
The organization also hands out luggage at the block functions/picnics for low/non-earnings people hosted by the nonprofit Our StreetLights Outreach.
“We are also so fortunate to have Grace Fleming, a retired Ashwaubenon social employee, arrive to Environmentally friendly Bay a several times a calendar year and (provide again) and produce significant quantities (of purses) to those in need to have in the Madison region.”
Kurowski mentioned looking at the reactions from the women who receive the purses reminds the founders why they do it.
“We fill a vast range of bags, and have found the excitement on the women’s faces when they obtain the ideal bag to match their type, temperament,” she mentioned. “We enjoy that. With our baggage, they can regain a small manage about anything, even if it is just picking out a bag. Staying in a position to make a option provides them back a little of their humanity. Our recipients are open-finished. Why under no circumstances know what the next day is heading to provide as much as recipients, donors, individuals included.”
Winslow mentioned when she was identified with breast most cancers, she was in awe of how her group came with each other for her.
“My shut good friends, the people I operate with, did so much for me that it genuinely took my breath absent,” she explained. “So, any option I have to give to my neighborhood is essential to me, and this is a excellent way of providing back again.”
Kurowski said the local community has been keen to help, not only donating hundreds of employed handbags and hygiene things, but also joining in the effort and hard work to fill the luggage and distribute them.
“We run all on donations,” she explained. “We have nevertheless to acquire a solitary purse. If we obtain a monetary donation, it is used to obtain goods that go in the purses.”
