Handbags for Hope Mother’s Day Purse Drive a Success!

Texas Advocacy Project asked….and your answer was a resounding YES! Thanks to you, our First Annual Handbags for Hope Purse Drive was a huge success. We set the original goal at two hundred purses, and when the dust settled, we were able to distribute nearly 3,000 purses to domestic violence shelters across Texas! Our vision was simple:  to get The Project’s hotline number safely into the hands of victims, while providing Mother’s Day gifts for families spending the holiday in shelters across the state.  Thanks to your generous support we distributed new and gently used purses to Family Crisis Center, Focusing Families, SAAFE House, New Horizon Family Center and the Women’s Center of Brazoria County.  Allstate Insurance Company even went as far as to spearhead the Handbags for Hope Purse drive in Amarillo, where their agents and Texas Advocacy Project delivered roughly 800 purses to Family Support Services! The purses were fitted with a special tag providing the Project's life-saving, toll-free domestic violence hotline number.  A Personalized Safety Plan pamphlet was also included, helping victims identify the possible steps they can take to become survivors.   

Thank you to the following businesses for their generous support:Allstate Insurance Company along with their Amarillo Agents, Massey Cadillac Company, Joe Dimaggio’s Italian Chophouse, Andrews Kurth, LLP , Marniebugs.com and the Travis County Sheriff's Office. 

In the end the children had something special for Mom and Mom got a vital resource just when she really needed it!  

Allstate Insurance Network Luncheon in Dallas

Thank you to everyone who attended the 3^rd Annual Allstate Insurance Network Luncheon in its first ever expansion into Dallas. More than 100 people attended the event, which was set at the Dallas Women’s Museum and was catered by Creative Cuisines.  

Keynote speaker Cathy Bonner challenged everyone present to make their own mark in their community. 

Special guest, Lisa Sturgeon, Allstate Marketing Manager, spoke about the importance of the Project’s work, encouraging guests to make a difference in the struggle to end domestic violence in Texas. Lisa commented, “If I were charged with creating historic changes in the Dallas Fort Worth area, this is the team I'd want to recruit!” 

Other notable guests included State Representative Linda Harper Brown, Paige Flink of The Family Place, Michael Fleischer of Jewish Family Services, Van Beckwith of Baker Botts, LLP, and the Blue Sky Leaders from Johnson Controls.  

Project Executive Director Andrea Sloan helped put the Project’s work in perspective. “The key phrase when talking about Texas Advocacy Project and the services we provide is ‘long-term,’” Sloan said. “Legal services actually break the cycle of violence, allowing victims to get out of these abusive relationships and stay out…that’s how they get back on track, leading healthy, productive lives.” 

Many Board of Directors members and friends of the Project hosted tables at the  luncheon as a way to raise money for the Project while providing a networking opportunity for Dallas leaders. Hosts included Julia McCurley, Donna Bloom, Melissa Leal of Andrews Kurth LLP, Blanca Laborde of Blanca Laborde Associates, Laura O’Donnell of Haynes & Boone LLP, Katy Wells of AMD with Sandy Cureton from IBM. 

family violence legal line

800-374-hope (Statewide)

512-476-5770 (In Austin)

family law hotline

800-777-fair (Statewide)

512-476-1866 (In Austin)

sexual assault legal hotline

888-296-safe (Statewide)

512-225-9290 (In Austin)

technical advocacy hotline

888-325-safe (Statewide)

512-476-5386 (In Austin)