276,000 children live below the poverty level
270,500 women live in community shelters and
107,000 children have at least one parent unemployed?

When we’re asked why we should care about what happens in Maryland, we think of Sheronda and Claudia. Sheronda is a 14 year old girl who lived in a homeless shelter for 2 years with her father, two little sisters, and younger brother. As the eldest child, she was in charge of caring for her siblings while her father worked to provide for the family. Her future looked bleak and without adequate financial resources she found it difficult to get access to basic necessities.

Claudia is a 53 year old woman living in a local shelter that houses homeless women with mental illness. After years of battling with health issues, Claudia turned to a shelter to help her get her life back on track. While her vibrant and positive attitude continued to shine bright, Claudia lacked the financial resources to purchase the personal care items needed to help her feel confident about her appearance and ready to re-enter the workforce.

My Girlfriend’s House was created to serve as positive role models to at-risk teen girls and women such as Sheronda and Claudia. Through our Purse Strings for My Girlfriends Program, we were able to increase Sheronda and Claudia’s self-esteem by providing them with a beautiful purse filled with essential personal care and beauty items. Since 2009, we have had the pleasure of supporting women and girls living in homeless shelters and group homes by donating purses filled with personal care items through our Annual Purse Drive.

Each year our goal is to collect purses throughout the month of October, fill them with 15 personal care items, and donate them to 25-30 homeless shelters in DC, MD, and VA.

Will you consider helping us empower the at-risk teens and women in our community?