Deodorant, shampoo, diapers, more raised for Sojourner House
Donation boxes for the Sojourner House can be found on the second floor of the Memorial Union and in the Women’s center. PHOTO CREDIT: Sojourner House
Three couple and family therapy graduate students at the University of Rhode Island, Megan O’Brien Crayne, Hannah Doster and Natalie Pitz, held a drive to support the Sojourner House in Providence Rhode Island last week.
The Sojourner House is an organization in Providence that serves women who are victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking and immigration, according to Doster.
The three students set up a drive to collect items to donate to the organization and spread information to benefit the community from Monday, March 28 to Monday, April 4.
The drive came about as a result of an assignment for HDF559, Diversity in Applied Family Settings with Professor Jessica Cless, that targeted a specific social justice issue. After brainstorming various local organizations in Rhode Island, the group decided to work with the Sojourner House.
The group decided on this organization because they wanted to work with a social justice issue they were passionate about, according to O’Brien Crayne. She said that the issues that the Sojourner House works to prevent affect women disproportionately, especially women of color.
The Sojourner House relies entirely on donations. The house gave the students a list of high priority items that were in need including toiletries such as deodorant and shampoo, diapers in sizes four, five and six, new twin size bed linens, gift cards and RIPTA passes.
In addition to physical donations, there will be informational pamphlets located at each of the drop-off locations which were placed in the Women’s Center, the Transition Center, the Memorial Union, Saint Augustines and the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of South County (UUCSC) to spread information about the resources available. These pamphlets included information about the ways in which women are disproportionately affected and how they work to dispel myths about issues like human trafficking, according to Doster.
“I think just raising awareness about the organizations in our community that are available to people is crucial,” Doster said.
According to O’Brien Crayne, it is important to start working on these issues at a local level.
“When putting the pamphlets together we focused a lot on how these issues look within Rhode Island,” she said. “It is important for community buy-in because whether or not it should matter, people care more about their neighbor than people who live 1000 miles away.”
The proximity also aids with the ability to form real relationships with people, which can help transform those trying to help as well as others, according to O’Brien Crayne.
Doster shared more about the impact working on a local level can have.
“Somebody who is struggling with something like domestic violence may only be aware that there is a national hotline that they can call for help, but to know there is a place located in Providence that they can know by name where they can look into the services provided can really serve the community better,” Doster said.
The group reached out to on-campus groups including the Memorial Union, multicultural groups and sororities to get the word out and to make sure all of the planning led to results.
While the drive has now ended, the group encourages people in the community to continue to donate to The Sojourner House. People can also reach out to [email protected] to get a PDF version of their informational pamphlet.