get involved: the new day box project
The New Day Box team. From left to right; Joanna Miller, Louise Braithwaite, Amber Johnson, Selina Ife, Carol Fitzpatrick (crouching), and Cyan Ta’eed.
The New Day Box project began just a few short weeks ago, ‘almost by accident’, says project founder, Cyan Ta’eed. The project asks us to make a box and fill it with cosmetics, skincare and treats that will be sent to women living in crisis accommodation this Christmas.
‘It is a way to show a woman going through something really tough that even though you don’t know them, you admire their courage and wish them happiness.’
Cyan was inspired by an article she found online about a project in Canada that organised boxes of goodies to be sent to crisis accommodation all over Canada. When she searched the inter-webs for a similar organisation in Australia, she found none, so she sent out two very important emails, which prompted immediate replies. There was a need in Australia for a project that helped women in crisis accommodation feel beautiful and cared for, especially during the Christmas period. And thus, the New Day Box project began.
I had the chance to ask Cyan a few questions about the project and about the issues surrounding domestic violence in Australia. Upon starting the project, Cyan was ‘not an expert on domestic violence … [but is] learning every day.’ She has ‘been exposed to dozens of amazing women who are devoting all their energies to running domestic violence crisis accommodation services.’ The boxes that one can make for the New Day Box project will be shipped to crisis accommodation sites all across Victoria. The Women’s Domestic Violence Crisis Service has partnered with Cyan and helps the boxes go to the right places.
Cyan stated that one crisis worker told her that a project like this was invaluable to helping women.
‘Even though the children of the women got Christmas presents, the women themselves [do] not receive anything. They had often fled with just their children and their clothes on their backs.’ The worker said that ‘life becomes about survival, and the nicer moments in life get lost.’
The New Day Box project has received requests for about 800 boxes, and Cyan wants to get at least 500 boxes out to women in domestic violence crisis this Christmas. You can help by filling up a shoebox with goodies such as hand or face cream, perfume, nail polish, lipstick, mascara, blush, brushes, a compact/mirror, pretty notebooks, pens or chocolates, avoiding anything with nuts, sharp objects (that aren’t safe for kids), candles or incense, and foundation, concealer or powders. You can also include a card with a message for the recipient of your box.
If you want to do something amazing this Christmas, why not create a gift that will mean more to someone than you can possibly imagine? I am just about to go out and buy some items to make a box of my own, and I’m very excited!
Find the details for making and sending a box here, and be aware that the project needs them by the 12th of December so that there is enough time to send them along to women by Christmas.
