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Power to Act, originally named Heavenly Handbags, started with a simple question from our Founder, How can I use my favorite accessory {handbags} for good? After a few inquiries to Volunteers of America and discovering the unmet basic + physical needs of women in the community Heavenly Handbags became a reality. Power to Act took form and we found the perfect handbag pattern, secured fabric remnants, and teamed with local seamstresses to stitch the first batch of handbags.
Now it was time to create a suitable Product List based on the identified need for daily hygiene products and fill each handbag. I turned to my community and sent out a mass email inviting friends and family to buy the products and donate them…and it happened. Excitingly, on August 25, 2010 we donated ten Heavenly Handbags filled with sixteen daily hygiene products to local women residing in the Durango Community Shelter and the Southwest Safehouse.
With the guidance of the shelter staff who encouraged a consistent donation of Heavenly Handbags was far greater than striving to maintain an unrealistic donation schedule and burnout. It was then that we set up a regular + sustainable donation schedule, donating ten Heavenly Handbags bi-monthly. We happily + attainably maintained that schedule for eight years growing our community of talented seamstresses and gals who purchased the requested hygiene products, plus receiving a few monetary donations along the way.
As our relationships + network grew with other local nonprofits who serve women exiting homelessness and survivors of domestic violence we began to identify additional unmet basic needs in our community. We also began to understand that the basic needs of women were much broader than the Hygiene Product List we had created and included household necessities, self-care products, positive connection, dignified vocation, life-skills, and much more.
With this awareness we broadened our work and began to develop relevant Needs-Based Programs, and also began to acknowledge the basic needs of women in our global communities. With this growth we turned our local cause into a nonprofit, now operating as Power to Act.
We developed a broader Purse with Purpose filling handbags with different Product Lists to meet the different needs of each local nonprofit recipient. We were no longer satisfied with dropping-off the handbags on the “doorstep” of our nonprofits, so we started hosting a Monthly Meal Program providing food for the physical body, and love and connection for the soul. Finally, we began to build partnerships with global organizations that serve and resource women rising from poverty and rescued from trafficking through dignified vocation and life-skills. Within these global partnerships we developed our Online Shoppe {Program}, as well as, provide ongoing vocation with talented artisans who now stitch the handbags we donate.
Through all this our mission was refined and vision defined. We are honored to seek to provide justice, practical kindness, and dignity by meeting the basic physical needs of women facing adversity in our local and global community. Today, we continue to seek and identify the unmet basic needs of women locally and globally, and develop Needs-Based Programs that address those needs.
Now it was time to create a suitable Product List based on the identified need for daily hygiene products and fill each handbag. I turned to my community and sent out a mass email inviting friends and family to buy the products and donate them…and it happened. Excitingly, on August 25, 2010 we donated ten Heavenly Handbags filled with sixteen daily hygiene products to local women residing in the Durango Community Shelter and the Southwest Safehouse.
With the guidance of the shelter staff who encouraged a consistent donation of Heavenly Handbags was far greater than striving to maintain an unrealistic donation schedule and burnout. It was then that we set up a regular + sustainable donation schedule, donating ten Heavenly Handbags bi-monthly. We happily + attainably maintained that schedule for eight years growing our community of talented seamstresses and gals who purchased the requested hygiene products, plus receiving a few monetary donations along the way.
As our relationships + network grew with other local nonprofits who serve women exiting homelessness and survivors of domestic violence we began to identify additional unmet basic needs in our community. We also began to understand that the basic needs of women were much broader than the Hygiene Product List we had created and included household necessities, self-care products, positive connection, dignified vocation, life-skills, and much more.
With this awareness we broadened our work and began to develop relevant Needs-Based Programs, and also began to acknowledge the basic needs of women in our global communities. With this growth we turned our local cause into a nonprofit, now operating as Power to Act.
We developed a broader Purse with Purpose filling handbags with different Product Lists to meet the different needs of each local nonprofit recipient. We were no longer satisfied with dropping-off the handbags on the “doorstep” of our nonprofits, so we started hosting a Monthly Meal Program providing food for the physical body, and love and connection for the soul. Finally, we began to build partnerships with global organizations that serve and resource women rising from poverty and rescued from trafficking through dignified vocation and life-skills. Within these global partnerships we developed our Online Shoppe {Program}, as well as, provide ongoing vocation with talented artisans who now stitch the handbags we donate.
Through all this our mission was refined and vision defined. We are honored to seek to provide justice, practical kindness, and dignity by meeting the basic physical needs of women facing adversity in our local and global community. Today, we continue to seek and identify the unmet basic needs of women locally and globally, and develop Needs-Based Programs that address those needs.
NOTE: The section below is about IMPACT - I am thinking through some other ideas to enhance or add to or better this portion - maybe an info-graphic or a text transition or something additional?? I am open to ideas.
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DONATED 1,103 PURSES WITH PURPOSE |
GENEROUSLY FILLED 15,442 PRACTICAL PRODUCTS |
SINCE 2021 CREATED 702.5 VOCATIONAL HOURS |
MONTHLY MEALS FOR 1,277 WOMEN & CHILDREN |
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FOUNDER + DIRECTORNAME: Kristen
ROLE: Power to Act Staff FAVORITE FLOWER: Desert Globe Mallow Expand: About Kristen |
BOARD OF DIRECTORS |
NAME: First Name
ROLE: President FAVORITE FLOWER: Personal JOB / EXPERTISE: Administration, Organization, Planning, etc.
NAME: First Name
ROLE: Secretary FAVORITE FLOWER: Personal JOB / EXPERTISE: Administration, Organization, Planning, etc. 
NAME: First Name
ROLE: Board Member FAVORITE FLOWER: Personal JOB / EXPERTISE: Administration, Organization, Planning, etc. 
NAME: First Name
ROLE: Board Member FAVORITE FLOWER: Personal JOB / EXPERTISE: Administration, Organization, Planning, etc. |
NAME: First Name
ROLE: Vice President FAVORITE FLOWER: Personal JOB / EXPERTISE: Administration, Organization, Planning, etc.
NAME: First Name
ROLE: Treasurer FAVORITE FLOWER: Personal JOB / EXPERTISE: Administration, Organization, Planning, etc. 
NAME: First Name
ROLE: Board Member FAVORITE FLOWER: Personal JOB / EXPERTISE: Administration, Organization, Planning, etc. |
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2021 OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO THE COMMUNITY
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2020 HONOREE
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