Melbourne tech entrepreneur Cyan Ta’eed hopes to make life a little easier for women in crisis this Christmas with the help of the New Day Box project.
Launched in 2013, by Cyan and a small team of volunteers, New Day Box is inspired by a Canadian project called the Shoebox Project. People from the community are encouraged to fill an ordinary shoebox with skincare and cosmetics. New Day Box then adds a note of support, packages the boxes and collects them on behalf of safe steps Family Violence Response Centre who in turn distribute them to shelters around the state.
In 2014 New Day Box received over 2,000 boxes. In 2015 the team is aiming higher and to assist women from all around Australia – and sadly, demand is there.
Each Christmas hundreds of women and children live in crisis accommodation due to family violence. A New Day Box is an easy way to send a message of support to a woman going through an extremely challenging time.
The goal is to remind women in crisis accommodation that we recognise their struggle, admire their courage and wish them happiness.
“Christmas is one of the busiest times for domestic violence shelters,” said Cyan, also a finalist in the 2015 Telstra Women in Business Awards.
Top Comments
Good work. This is fantastic! I'm not in Victoria but definitely going to find out how to contribute where I can.
Share the Dignity is doing a similar thing, but you fill up an old handbag. It's becoming huge in social media and is also worth writing an article on.
Sharethedignity.com.au