Bring holiday cheer to domestic violence victims

By Kevin Fobbs

The holiday season brings out the sentimental donation favorites every year. There are of course the used car donations, the Salvation Army and its famous and much needed Red Kettle drive, and then there are a myriad of others that feed the hungry and the homeless. And all of them have tremendous merit.

Yet oftentimes lost in this holiday rush for cash donations are the women and children who are left in shelters during this Christmas period. Although the mothers may have taken the first important step to leave the abuser they are left in far too many cases in a new setting which is unfamiliar, scary for their children, and without much holiday cheer.

Why not give the families in abuse shelters a leg up on Christmas cheer this season and launch a new "Lift Their Holiday Spirit" campaign for abused women and families. You may choose something else to name it but the purpose is to begin to:

• Donate an hour of your time,
  
  
• Give a cash contribution,
  
  
• Select a toy or game to give to a shelter,
  
  
• Donate books, pens, paper,
  
  
• Clear out your closet and donate clothes you haven't worn in a while or that no longer fit,
  
  
• Purchase feminine hygiene products to contribute,
  
  
• Donate a television, radio, or DVD player including family and children rated DVD movies you are not using,
  
  
• Contribute Household items
  
  
• Give professional help, ie. lawyer, doctor, landlord, realty agent, etc...
  
  
• Christian singers can donate performance dates,
  
  
• Family assistance agencies can work with university schools of social work to coordinate "family holiday wish lists" for shelters,
  
  
• Barnes and Noble, Borders, Block Buster Video and others can be encouraged to take part in "Lift Their Holiday Spirit" donation drives,
  
  
• Be creative and think out of the box... How can you "Lift Their Holiday Spirit"
  
  

Life in a shelter during the holiday season can be downright forlorn, but if all of us can just begin to do what we can to not only remember the wife, sister, grandmother, niece or daughter and their kids who took the first brave step...to leave abuse, then we can all put our faith into action to ease the suffering of others. "And one of you say to them, Depart in peace, be you warmed and filled; notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful to the body; what does it profit?" James 2:16

Let's lift up the spirit of Christ in our own hearts each year and donate good spirits, good cheer and blessings to domestic violence shelters that are stretched to the limit.

Enjoy your Christmas! This year and in years to come remember the "Lift The Holiday Spirit" campaign and help victims of domestic abuse enjoy their Christmas and holiday season as well.

For more information on a shelter in your area contact:

• Domestic Violence Agencies on the Internet: http://www.silcom.com/~paladin/madv/dvagencies.html
  
  
• Help for Abused and battered women — domestic violence shelters, support and prevention: http://www.helpguide.org/mental/domestic_violence_abuse_help_treatment_prevention.htm
  
  
• Michigan Domestic Violence Shelters: http://www.divorcesource.com/shelters/michigan.shtml
  
  

Merry Christmas.

© Kevin Fobbs