Archives for March 2023

Archive for March, 2023

Thank you, Joy in a Box, for your incredible support

Posted on: March 24th, 2023 by Nellie's No Comments

In the fall of 2019, preschool teacher Michèle de Pencier had the idea of creating a holiday charitable giving program for the kids at her school. Similar to well-known initiatives like The Shoebox Project (which also generously supports Nellie’s), Michèle’s idea was for families to fill a decorative box with unwrapped gifts that someone in need might like to receive — but with this project, the focus was on kids gifting to other kids.

“The whole concept for me started with asking the question: How do we teach kids about empathy and giving back?” explains Michèle. “How do I get more kids to understand that although they live in their cozy bubbles, there are still kids out there who are living in crisis and in horrible situations?”

With the blessing of her school director, Michèle made a plan to invite families in their school community to create gift boxes which Michèle would then drop off at a shelter in time for the holidays. With a suggested total value of $25 to $35 per box, Michèle instructed families to fill each box with goodies such as mittens or socks, small toys like cars or action figures, baby supplies like wipes or onesies, stickers or crafts, and Wal-Mart or grocery store gift cards (for the moms). The response from the families at her school was immensely positive, and Joy in a Box was born.

“The parents loved it,” says Michèle. “They told me that it helped to start really interesting conversations at home, and provided them with a way to try to teach their young kids that there are other kids their age that live in this city and have a really difficult life.” That first year, her small school managed to make about 50 boxes for kids in need.

Despite some setbacks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Michèle’s initiative has continued to grow — in 2022 she collected approximately 275 boxes which she distributed to five different shelters across Toronto, including Nellie’s. Michèle credits a lot of the growth to the connection she’s made with the Heaps Estrin real estate brokerage, who has helped to promote the project and now uses their two locations in Leaside and Rosedale as drop-off points for families who create gift boxes.

Having worked with young children for over 35 years and having three sons of her own, Michèle understands that kindness and empathy can be learned at a young age — you just have to find the right way to teach them. Joy in a Box is Michèle’s way of making this connection for young kids, teaching them in a simple and fun way about how they can help their peers in need. In the future, Michèle hopes to have the opportunity to partner with more schools and be able to connect with students directly.

“I’m excited to see how this can continue to grow, but I’m also so sad that my mom wasn’t here to see this,” explains Michèle. “She died in 2014, but she would have loved this. She just loved Christmas and she was a big part of how I came up with the concept and the name — her favourite perfume was called Joy de Jean Patou.”

Thank you, Michèle, and every family who has participated in the Joy in a Box project, for your tremendous support of Nellie’s. Your generosity and passion mean so much to the women and their children who need us.

This International Women’s Day, our empowerment self-defense work showcased at the UN

Posted on: March 7th, 2023 by Nellie's No Comments

2023 marks the 50th anniversary of Nellie’s, and we’re extremely honoured to kick off this momentous year on an international stage. Just in time for International Women’s Day, Nellie’s has been selected to showcase our work at the 2023 NGO CSW67 Forum in New York City, an event that runs in parallel to the UN Commission on the Status of Women. Here’s what executive director Jyoti Singh has to say about this incredible opportunity:

For many years, Nellie’s has been known foremost as a crisis organization for women escaping violence, but it’s our efforts in teaching empowerment self-defense that will help us become a leader in stemming the flow of violence on a systemic level. On March 9, alongside the team at PAVE Prevention (Proactive Anti-Violence Education), we’ll be sharing how Nellie’s is working to deliver prevention programs that disrupt the cycle of violence.

What’s especially incredible about empowerment self-defense is the role it can also play in helping women achieve transformative justice. For so many women who have been victims of violence, it can be impossible to attain restorative justice through traditional methods, such as mediation. For women who literally cannot be in the same room with their offender because that person tried to kill them, how do you restore the harm? How do you restore that sense of peace?

This is where empowerment self-defense comes in. These training sessions don’t only teach you how to protect yourself from violence, but for women who have been victims of domestic violence, they also teach you how to reignite your soul and tap into the power inherently within you. This is the message that we want to give to the world at the United Nations: women have the power to heal from within, and they can achieve their own transformative justice.

I believe we’re going to change lives with this program. I believe we’re going to save lives with this program.

This amazing opportunity continues to grow out of the work we’ve been doing on empowerment self-defense and ending gender-based violence, including training our staff to run PAVE Prevention for women and Rock and Water (a world-renowned violence prevention program) for children and youth. It’s because of your generous support that we’re able to implement violence prevention programs for women and their children, and we’re excited to share how this approach is crucial in ending gender-based violence.

To be celebrating our 50th anniversary by sharing our work on a global stage — and on the day after International Women’s Day, no less — it all feels truly serendipitous. We’re immensely proud to be able to represent the women and children that we serve, our funders and donors, and all of our staff through this amazing opportunity. It’s thanks to your continued support that we are able to lead the change. Thank you for believing in us and the work that we do.