A woman battling homelessness or escaping an abusive relationship with children by her side is something Suzanne Dutson says she cannot imagine, but that does not stop her from trying to make that world a little brighter.
“We wanted to say, ‘You aren’t alone, we do care about you and we are willing to do what we can … because we want to be there for you as a group of women,’” said Dutson, a co-creator of the Facebook group “Juneau Pay-it Forward.”
The Facebook group’s administrators, made up of Dutson and her three sisters, asked for handbags and female toiletry donations a month ago to create care packages for women in the community. On Monday, those packages — in the form of gently-used designer bags — made their way to Juneau’s AWARE (Aiding Women in Abuse and Rape Emergencies) shelter.
No one at the shelter was aware the “purse project” was underway, and Monday’s drop-off was a complete surprise, said Saralyn Tabachnick, AWARE’s executive director.
“I think it’s beautiful they care about women and children in unsafe situations and want them to be in safer situations,” Tabachnick said. “We’re so fortunate in this community to get surprise gifts like this. It’s wonderful to know people are thinking about us without us telling them to.”
AWARE houses and supports women and their children fleeing abusive homes. The organization also offers support to sexually assaulted women.
Christina Love, an AWARE staff advocate, said AWARE has a program that gives women fresh garments after they’ve undergone a sexual assault exam at the hospital. Now, AWARE has 23 purses filled with shampoo bottles, shaving supplies, mittens and scarves to give those women.
“I think (when receiving a gift like this) there is immediate fun and gratitude and joy,” Tabachnick said. “Then it sets in that, ‘Wow, people in the community really care about us and really want to support us. They want us to live in healthy, safe situations and they want us to build stability and are offering gifts to support us.’”
Supporting the community is something Dutson and her sisters — Jan-Marie Bearfield, Regan Tweedy and Rinny Heywood — are already known for. Last year, Alaska’s former First Lady Sandy Parnell gave Heywood a Volunteer of the Year Award for her involvement with the social media page.
Dutson said she saw posts on Facebook from groups in other communities taking part in purse projects for women in need, so she posted it on her page to see if there would be interest in Juneau to do something similar.
It also appealed to Dutson who said it seemed to be a large-scale version of something the sisters were already doing on a regular basis. When traveling, the sisters and other members of their family are known to carry small plastic bags with essential toiletries and spare change for homeless people they come across.
“I can’t imagine having to deal with all of the issues that come with being homeless, just as a human, and then to not have your own comb or your own feminine hygiene products … just imagine how these little things would mean the world to someone,” Dutson said.
The overwhelming support from the Facebook group’s nearly 2,500 members has inspired the sisters to make the purse project an annual event. Next up for them: men’s shaving kit packages.
“There’s a whole special population of people whose needs don’t get met,” Dutson said. “That’s the point of the ‘Pay-it Forward’ site, to make a difference in someone’s life.”
Victims of domestic violence or sexual assault in need of assistance from trained AWARE advocates can call a 24-hour crisis line, 586-1090 in Juneau, 1-800-478-1090 toll-free in Alaska. Advocates also accompany women during sexual assault forensic exams and other medical emergencies. For more information, visit www.awareak.org.
To learn about the “Juneau Pay-it Forward” group, visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/448671281910269/
• Contact reporter Paula Ann Solis at 523-2272 or at paula.solis@juneauempire.com.
Twenty-three purses filled with toiletries, gloves, scarves, and feminine hygiene products are donated to the AWARE shelter on Monday. Suzanne Dutson, co-founder of the “Juneau Pay-it Forward” Facebook group, after sourcing donations from the community.
