INSIDE THE BOX
Meaning of Christmas found in humble packages for women in shelters or fleeing traumatic situations
A local business is seeing to it that dozens of gift-wrapped shoeboxes lled with treats for Christmas are being sent to women who are in need across Colchester County.
TRURO NEWS
TRURO, N.S. – For Miriah Kearney, love fits snugly inside an average-sized shoebox.
And every year, dozens of wrapped shoeboxes filled with Christmas treats are sent to women in need across Colchester County.
They are organized in My Home Mercantile store in Truro, whose Inglis Place location becomes something of a Santa’s workshop, as donated shoebox items flow in.
“It reminds me of what the Christmas spirit is all about, which is helping others in need and I feel incredibly proud that myself and the team can do this for the community,” said Kearney, who owns My Home Mercantile.
Kearney first launched the Shoebox Project for Women in Truro three years ago to help women in shelters or who have fled traumatic or abusive situations.
Some are at risk of being homeless, but the Truro campaign is part of a national drive to help them through Christmas.
Each shoebox contains $50 worth of new items. These include chocolates or candies, warm clothing including socks, hats and mittens and essential toiletries. Also included are feminine hygiene products, make-up, nail polish, books and journals.
Finally, a card or letter from the donor is added, letting the recipient know someone is thinking about them.
“If you’re struggling and you open up a nice box of things inside, it’s very joyful,” said Kearney. “It often helps give confidence to the women in need to move forward with their lives.”
Kearney and her team are aiming for at least 100 shoeboxes to go to women in Colchester County.
If Kearney’s team receives more boxes, they will be shipped to nearby communities such as New Glasgow, Amherst, or even up to New Brunswick.
“We just keep spreading the joy as far as we can go,” said Kearney.
The program also means a lot to Amy-leigh Allain, who has worked on it every year since it first started in 2016.
“I have been very close to women who have been abused by their partners,” said Allain. “To see it from the point of view of women who have been abused and the aftermath of it, I can see how a project like this can improve their lives in a positive way.”
As inventory and production manager at My Home Mercantile, Allain’s role in the shoebox project is more behind the scenes. She helps sort through donated items to build full shoeboxes.
But Allain felt her role on
the shoebox program and her job in general at My Home Mercantile was a healing experience nonetheless.
“It’s such a big giving-back business and that’s important to me,” said Allain.
Locally the shoeboxes are donated to Third Place Transition House women’s shelter, the Lotus Centre women’s resource facility, the Colchester Sexual Assault Centre, Maggie’s Place, the Friendship Centre in Millbrook and the Truro Homeless Outreach Society.