Comfort Kits.

I have a list in my Decomposition spiral notebook called "Care Bags for Women in Distress." I started the bags when Josh was doing a local outreach for migrants. I subscribe to ipsy, so I end up with a lot of cute little bags. I use many of them to hold pens and sticky notes, but I don't love and can't use them all. So I got the idea from Josh's project to make little bags for women who want to live here. When the project ended, we started sending the bags to the border. 

I hope to send out care bags again next month. I should have enough bags, and I'll add all the stuffing to my Amazon subscriptions. I need to check the guest room to see if I have any leftovers from last time, but I don't think I do. I want to mail at least 10 bags, hopefully 12. Josh handles the mailing. 

He admires me, but I'm mostly glad to have a good use for the bags. And I like to give a spark of comfort to a woman in distress. A tissue with lotion, good lip balm, a pop-up hair brush (those flimsy hygiene-kit combs certainly can't handle my hair), a face wipe, a breath mint, a hair tie. Things I would want if I were stuck on a bus, on the street, in a shelter. It's not soap and toothpaste, but I figure most people send that. It's the next layer of need--getting your hair out of your face, soothing lips with something that smells good. It's what I didn't have in the hospital, when I was a woman in distress. I guess they're comfort kits. 

So if you have piles of ispy bags, there's an idea for how to use them. Or send them to me, and I'll be excited to use them. I usually only have enough bags to send a batch every few months.