Genesis House resource development coordinator Sophie Gerbrandt stopped by the Winkler branch of the South Central Regional Library Friday to pick up the dozens of donations that came in for this year’s Power of PJs campaign.
In conjunction with November being Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the regional shelter put a call out to the community for donations of women’s and children’s pyjamas, warm socks, and comfy pants. SCRL branches in Winkler, Morden, Altona, Miami, and Manitou served as drop-off locations for donations.
“This is more than we what we had last year,” said Winkler branch administrator Jess Martens as Gerbrandt loaded up the items, which totalled over 200 pairs of PJs alone. “This year the smaller branches, Miami and Manitou, had probably double what they normally have.
“It’s fantastic to see the communities come together and support this.”
Gerbrandt noted the donations will provide a great deal of comfort to the women and children who come to the shelter for safe haven.
“Last year we had 64 women and 50 kids come into the shelter, and we gave each one of them a pair of pyjamas or comfy clothes,” she said. “So this is great to see. It’s exciting.”
Mixed in with the clothing were also several gifts of toys, personal hygiene products, and food that the shelter will also put to good use.
All in all, November proved a successful month for Genesis House in terms of raising both awareness and support for their work with the victims of domestic violence.
“It has really flown by,” Gerbrandt said. “We had lots of different opportunities for both fun events and also awareness events across the region, and the response has been encouraging. We’ve had a lot of good traction.”
Among the events was a children’s art contest on the theme of peace, the annual “Peace Begins at Home” Flyers hockey game, and a screening of the film Rustic Oracle, which highlights the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women.
