ADOPT A FAMILY – FROM TOLEDO TO EL PASO

The holiday season is great time to adopt a family spending their holidays in the YWCA’s domestic violence shelter. “This can be an especially difficult time for mothers and children,” says Jan Bruggeman, director of the YWCA’s domestic violence shelter. That’s why we invite our friends in the community to ‘adopt’ a family spending the holidays in the shelter.”But this year, we’re inviting people in our community to “think local, and act global,” says Lisa McDuffie, CEO of the YWCA in Toledo.In partnership with the El Paso (TX) YWCA, “we’re spearheading a drive to collect toiletries and other personal hygiene products for immigrant women awaiting asylum decisions after having traveled hundreds of miles with their children to escape violence in their home countries,” says McDuffie. “These women frequently have no local support network while they wait for their appeals to be adjudicated. They have found their way to the El Paso YWCA, whose resources are a stretched beyond the breaking point.“We’re not taking a political position on the issue of immigration and immigration reform,” says McDuffie. We are just doing our part to address humanitarian issues and conditions that affect women and children at the local, national, and international levels.”To learn more about the YWCA of Northwest Ohio’s Global Action initiative, call 419-241-3235, extension 139.