The holidays are upon us! This month’s Happy Hour we will be collecting for the Purse Project. Bet you’re wondering what this is!
This is a home-grown charity that has been thriving over the past 5 years. It all started when Julie Nakayama found herself, as a new mom, using diaper bags more and more. She had old purses she was no longer using that were just sitting around collecting dust. Thinking that there must be a way to re-purpose these purses, while helping those in need in the community, she created the purse project. We don’t just collect and donate purses; we fill them to the brim with essential items that recipients would want in their purses if they were starting with nothing or homeless.
The beneficiaries of the Purse Project include Blue Heart International, an organization that help victims of sex trafficking in the Sacramento region. Another portion is donated to Women's Empowerment, which helps homeless women rise out of poverty, along with Stand Up Placer who assist women escaping domestic violence and Community Against Sexual Harm (CASH), which assists women in Sacramento who have been commercially sexually exploited. Last year they donated a few hundred to those affected by the Camp fire in Paradise.
Bring your old purses and stuff it with items that might help women in need. Only want to bring old purses? That’s fine! Only want to bring items for stuffing? That’s fine too!

See you on November 21!