A group of Melbourne women have come up with an initiative to send a message of hope to western suburbs women experiencing family violence.
The New Day Box project has the group collecting shoeboxes full of women’s unused cosmetics, skin care products and other feminine treats to be distributed throughout Victoria including to the Women’s Health West Service in Footscray, which helps women experiencing family violence.
The project was the initiative of Cyan Ta’eed and her colleagues at digital company Envato. Ms Ta’eed said she was inspired to start the program after reading about a similar project in Canada called the Shoebox Project.
Ms Ta’eed said she made a call to crisis accommodation managers at Victoria’s Women’s Domestic Violence Crisis Service who told her there was no such service in the state.
“We felt these women deserved something nice for themselves to give them a bit of a boost,” she said. “Most of them have nothing and are scrimping together what they can to give their kids the best Christmas they can.”
Ms Ta’eed said the group aimed to raise awareness and invite sponsors to donate products to give women a meaningful present this Christmas.
Fellow volunteer Selina Ife said the group was hoping to deliver more than 500 shoe boxes to women in need this Christmas.
“A lot of these women are isolated so we want to make them feel part of a wider community that really cares about them,” she said.
The presents will also be given to the women with a card and a message of support which says somebody is thinking of them and admiring their courage.
» To donate, post your gift box to New Day Box c/o Envato, Level 1, 121 King Street, Melbourne 3000. newdaybox.org/make-a-box
