Since 2007, JaMai has been collecting and delivering purses packed with personal care items to teenage girls in foster care, in group homes, and in homeless shelters. Her project is known as Pack A Purse Holiday Drive™. Although JaMai was away at school until early December and I was unable to handle the physical tasks of organizing our 5th Annual Pack A Purse Drive, 2011 was our best year ever. This year another sponsor, The Maids of Maryland, came on board. I want to take this opportunity to send a special thank you to The Maids of Maryland and Linda Crosby who were able to garner print and television media coverage and collect 578 purses at their host site. They also delivered over 200 of those purses. We would also like to send a shout out to Sabrina McLean who donated to Pack A Purse, served as a host site, and delivered purses to 3 organizations. Another heartfelt thank you goes to Cindy Freland who also donated to the holiday drive and served as a host site. A grand total of 735 purses were donated to the following organizations:
- Shepherd’s Cove Homeless Shelter
- Howard County Department of Social Services Independent Living Program
- Prince George’s County Department of Social Services Independent Living Program
- Hearts & Homes For Youth
- Echelon Community Services
- DC Family & Youth Initiative
- Thurgood Marshall Academy Mentoring Program
- Entrepreneurs Success Builder’s Network
- St. Stephen’s Missionary Baptist Church
- The WrightVision Foundation
- A Step Closer Foundation (She Matters)
- Petworth Family
- Sasha Bruce Youthwork
- Covenant House Washington
- Ionnia Whipper Home
- Second Genesis
- Anne Arundel County Systems of Care
- KidsPeace
- The Children’s Home in Catonsville
- Rica in Rockville
- Waxter Children’s Center
- Mountain Manor Residential Facility
- Success In Style
In addition to the people listed above, we want to thank our other awesome donors:
- Laila and Maria El-Asmar
- Jacquetta Shanklin
- Lori Wagner
- Cicely Hudson
- Sisters4Sisters, Inc.
- Nashieka Knight
- Angela Stanton
- Valerie Howard-Jones
- Living Waters Ministries
- Faith Christian Worship Church
- Terri Roberts
- Karol Taylor
- Ginger Loprete
- Clients of The Maids of Maryland
We are re-evaluating our processes and gearing up for an even larger distribution for our 6thAnnual Pack A Purse Holiday Drive™ in 2012. Emails inquiries may be sent to packapurse@gmail.com. Stay tuned…the best is yet to come! Happy Holidays!!
Nicki Sanders, MSW, Chief Visionary Officer
The Teen Toolbox provides youth portfolio development and civic engagement and academic enrichment opportunities to help teens set goals for life after high school and create a road map to reach those goals through its PACKAGED FOR SUCCESS™ Programs.