Purses with a Purpose is back for its sixth campaign to provide purses and backpacks full of necessities to charities and women’s shelters and charities across the Halton and Hamilton areas.
Based in Burlington, Purses with a Purpose was founded in 2018 by Joyce Sharkey and Dianne Pruitt and has grown every year since.
“It feels wonderful,” Sharkey said. “The response from the donations that we’ve already made, they’ve all been very appreciative. We started out six years ago with 50 purses,” and last year it was up to 617.”
This year, Purses with a Purpose has set a goal to donate 800 purses and backpacks to a variety of charities. The bags can be filled with things like shampoo, body wash, toiletries, hygiene products, hand cream, winter clothes, hair brushes and more.
Purses with a Purpose has also expanded the number of charities that it will be donating to this year.
“We’re donating all of this to 12 charities,” Pruitt said. “We started off with four or five in the first year, and now we’ve increased it to 12 charities across Halton and Hamilton.”
Halton Women’s Shelter, Kerr Street Mission and the Compassion Society are a few of the charities that Purses with a Purpose plans to donate to this year.
The campaign is accepting donations until Nov. 30, and residents are encouraged to reach out to one of the volunteers with Purses with a Purpose to arrange for a pickup or drop off for the bags and goods.