Living in a women’s refuge can be a daunting experience. Often the women question if they’ve done the right thing, have low self-esteem, feel isolated, anxious, maybe even angry. Bridgend Soroptimists have worked closely with the women’s refuge in Bridgend for many years. As well as providing practical support with a constant flow of toiletries, household items and other essentials, we have been concerned for the wellbeing of the residents.
Rather than imposing our ideas on the ladies, a number of members went along to meet them to find out what they wanted and to chat about ways in which we could help. This resulted in us setting up regular crafting afternoons, running simple cookery sessions and hosting pamper sessions – all designed to boost confidence, enhance self-esteem and enable the ladies to connect with other people in a safe, non-judgemental atmosphere.
This developed further when, following a chance encounter between our Club President, Ruth Davies-Kemp, and a beauty consultant in a local Boots store, an opportunity to expand our involvement at the refuge came about.
Angie, who works for Estée Lauder in Boots, Talbot Green, was very interested in what we are doing at the refuge and was keen to get involved. She suggested offering a make-over and pampering session to the ladies at the refuge. President Ruth took up Angie’s offer and, liaising closely with Llamau, who run the Bridgend refuge, to ensure all safeguarding requirements were in place, made arrangements for a session at the end of March.
As well as providing goodie bags containing Estée Lauder products, Angie encouraged her colleagues in Boots to donate money to expand the bags to include other hygiene products. In addition, other businesses in the Talbot Green Retail Park got involved and the money raised enabled Angie to put together goodie bags for the children at the refuge, as well as provide a box of clothes which was donated by Next.
“Even though space was extremely limited,” explains Angie, “we were able to give the ladies a whole pamper and the session went well. The staff at Boots raised £145 of their own money which enabled us to provide each of the ladies in the refuge with a hygiene bag packed full to the brim. Donations from the other stores meant we could put together goodie bags for the children and also gave them a big box full of clothes donated by Next. The ladies enjoyed the pampering and very much appreciated the generosity of my colleagues.”
Bridgend Soroptimists are very grateful to Angie and her colleagues for helping to make the ladies feel special and improve their mental wellbeing. Angie remains in contact with SI Bridgend and we were delighted to present her a Certificate of Appreciation for the enormous amount of effort she put into the session and the way in which she marshalled support from her colleagues in Boots and neighbouring businesses in Talbot Green.