We’re celebrating the new year and marking NewmarketToday’s four-month anniversary by counting down your top 10 favourite stories. These are the stories that have been most shared by you among your network, on your social media accounts, and by email. These are the stories that struck a chord, inspired, shocked, dismayed, and amused you. Thank you for following us, and for helping to grow our influence and reach since our Sept. 4 launch.
No. 10
Fill a Purse drive aims to collect 10,000 purses for sisters in shelters
Shared 446 times | Sept. 5, 2018
Purses for shelters nears 10,0000 goal
Shared 372 times | Nov. 22, 2018
You helped Fill a Purse organizer Angel Freedman collect a mountain of purses and backpacks — literally — for women and youth in shelters and in crisis across York Region and the province.
The aptly named campaign had grown in leaps and bounds since its local launch four years ago — from a “small” collection of 1,500 purses going to a few shelters in its first year to almost 10,000 purses and backpacks going to shelters in communities across the province and globe this year. The campaign runs from September to December annually.
Newmarket was one of the original communities involved, and now purses and backpacks are also being donated across York Region — Aurora, Mount Albert, Sharon, Markham, Stouffville, Richmond Hill, Thornhill and Keswick.
Women embraced the idea of donating their gently used or new purses filled with practical things, from tissues to tampons, and the usual essentials, from lip balm and gum to gift cards and hair clips, often with a thoughtful note or other special items.
Every purse is packed with the gift of dignity and hope.
“They love to fill a purse with things they may have, or that they buy, and they add jewelry and a note and gloves and a hat, they’re choosing items with a woman in mind. They feel that a little bit of them goes to ‘a sister’ — it’s a personal connection,” Freedman said.
As you helped spread the word, mostly by social media, Freedman began getting daily calls from across the province from women asking how they could get involved in their communities.
The campaign has blossomed well beyond its roots in York Region, not only throughout Ontario — including Toronto, Bradford, Orangeville, Alliston, Barrie, Bracebridge, Orillia, Huntsville, Gravenhurst, Wasaga Beach, Collingwood, Beaverton, Uxbridge, Whitby, Burlington, Oshawa, Ajax, Pickering, Thornton, Ottawa, Montreal and Sudbury — but also from Halifax to Vancouver, Winnipeg and St. Albert, Alta., and across the globe to Lagos, Nigeria and Glasgow, Scotland.
“Every woman can relate to this, our purses are a part of us, an extension of us,” Freedman said. “It’s sad not to have one, these women have lost something, or have nothing of their own.”
It’s giving that goes beyond writing a cheque to support a charity, she said.
“They love to fill a purse with things they may have, or that they buy, and they add jewelry and a note and gloves and a hat, they’re choosing items with a woman in mind. They feel that a little bit of them goes to ‘a sister’ — it’s a personal connection.”
Clearly, we’ve taken to heart the words of 19th-century American women’s rights activist Susan B. Anthony: “Every woman should have a purse of her own.”
