‘Overwhelming’ response for handbag appeal
Ashley Nally, Nicky, Bella and Louis Strong, and Rachel Black holding some of the 238 Love Grace Handbag Appeal donations from across Marlborough. Photo: William Woodworth.
An annual appeal in memory of Grace Millane has shown Marlborough’s willingness and generosity to support local women in their most desperate times.
The ‘Love Grace’ Handbag Appeal provides support for women by providing handbags full of essential items that Women’s Refuge’s across New Zealand and the UK give to women fleeing domestic violence to provide a sense of normality.
The experience of organising Marlborough’s donations, cleaning handbags and filling them with essential items has been a bittersweet one for Nicky Strong, and her children Bella and Louis.
“238 bags for Marlborough are a fantastic response on a nationwide scale, let alone for somewhere with our population”, Nicky says.
“Donations started off slow for the first few days, but the last weeks have seen the donations just take over our house – it feels a bit empty at home now.
“Whether it’s just bags, just toiletries, or already made bags, we’ve just been the middlemen collecting from drop points
“The Wairau Valley ladies group dropped heaps off, Jane from PAE did 32 bags from Woodbourne – so many groups have contributed.
“But I was saying to my kids, if Marlborough gets through each of these bags by this time next year that means domestic violence is impacting more than one woman a day, which is very sobering”
The 238 bags, plus extra bags full of donated toiletries, was an “overwhelming show of love” arriving last Tuesday for Women’s Refuge Marlborough Rachel Black.
“There’s a lot of women in our community that care about victims of domestic abuse and want them to have something for themselves, and as many donors give bags from their own closet there is a real personal touch of love, care and hope in an awful situation.
“Each of the bags includes a list of essential items plus some special additions like makeup or body lotion. But as much as one handbag and its contents don’t look like much, for many of the women who receive these bags, they may not normally be able to get them herself as they’re often putting their family and children first.
“Some come to us with just the clothes on their back, so it’s so nice to be able to give a bag that is directly from our community out to every local woman who comes in”.