Back in 2014, SI Guildford (as we then were) decided to support one of the refuges run by Your Sanctuary in Surrey. Items donated included curtains, blankets, duvets and bedding, crockery and kitchen utensils. Since that time we have donated numerous further household items, including beds and furniture to enable a former resident and her son to furnish their new home and funds to supply school uniforms to children in the Refuge.
We have also donated handbags filled with an assortment of donated toiletries. The bags welcome those arriving at the Refuge who may not have brought such items with them, and give them a handbag of their own.
During the Covid-19 pandemic we responded to Your Sanctuary’s request for rather more mundane – but nonetheless essential – households cleaning products, such as paper towels, detergents and toilet roll.
We now put together cloth bags containing a base collection of household cleaning products which are delivered to each woman arriving at Your Sanctuary. The bags are handmade by one of our members and give the women receiving them a sense of independence. Each bag and contents costs around £10 and we provide approximately 60 bags per annum.
Over the past few years, we have donated 
small gifts that the children living in Your Sanctuary could give to their mothers as presents for Christmas (fluffy socks, bars of Divine chocolate, luxury soap and bottles of shower gel). We also provide the wrapping paper, string, sellotape, labels and cards, so that the children can wrap and decorate their own gifts. We hope that these simple things will bring joy and happiness to both the children and their mothers at this special – and rather unusual – time.
This work recognises the Soroptimist goal of improving the lives and status of women and girls through education, empowerment or enabling opportunities and in particular, our work in helping to eliminate violence against women and girls.