Holiday gift bags for victims of domestic violence in San Francisco

This holiday season I ask you to be thankful for what you have, and
give a little kindness to those who are surviving domestic violence.

I
recently reached out to La Casa de las Madres, a San Francisco domestic
violence nonprofit that provides intervention and prevention services
to women and their children.  All their services are free and confidential, which is shocking when you consider that California cut all domestic violence funding for shelter services this year, right before restoring all but $4 million through an emergency bill.

"What do you need?", I asked their outreach coordinator Walesa Kanarek.

"We
are in particular need of hats, gloves, scarves, and writing Journals.
 These are items that will create gift bags for our clients in need.
 These are clients in need of holiday cheer who are currently in
shelter, transitioning out shelter, and clients receiving ongoing
services.  You can either focus on one item or create gift bags of all
4 items.  We have a target of 150 gift bags, and have commitments so
far only for 35 of them.

We could also use nice tote bags (like clean Trader Joe's bags) or small backpacks to give them these items in.

We need these items in our office by the 12th in order to get them ready for our clients for the holidays."

This is a tough year for everyone, so I'm asking you to help in one of a couple of ways.

If you live in San Francisco and want to contribute one or
more hats, gloves, scarves, tote bags, backpacks, or blank writing
journals in your possession now, please let me know immediately.  It
needs to be at my house by Friday December 11th at noon.  I'll make an
exception and come to you if you can collect enough for 5 gift bags
worth.

If you do not live in San Francisco please help by making a gift online
to La Casa de las Madres.  Please place "grateful" in the "In Honor Of"
field so we can track how much we give together.  A gift of $35-$50
should cover a nice gift bag for someone who probably is having a much
worse holiday than you are.