All told, Cleo and Jeryn DeCoppel collected 93 filled purses on behalf of the Fill a Purse for a Sister Campaign. They were distributed locally to shelters and community service centres. Team DeCoppel photo.

Hub Staff

Real estate duo Cleo and Jeryn DeCoppel from Team DeCoppel joined the 2022 Fill a Purse For a Sister Campaign and the community responded.

"It's a charitable event, started by Angel Freedman," said Cleo DeCoppel in a telephone interview with Saugeen Shores Hub December 22.

Fill a Purse For a Sister Campaign aims to bring comfort, hope and dignity to women and youth in crisis by way of a purse filled with personal necessities, and to promote awareness, especially around domestic violence.

"Knowing that in Saugeen Shores we have a lot of people going without right now, it's pretty sad times for a lot of people," said DeCoppel. "A lot of people don't realize that," she said.

The promotion runs yearly, from September 1 to December 1, in cities across Canada and collected purses are distributed to domestic violence shelters, women's shelters, rape crisis centres and social services.

"Some of our purses were overflowing," said DeCoppel, adding that items included things like toiletries, mittens, hats, wallets, gift cards, socks, pens and note books, and tampons. "We appreciated everything," she said.

All told, Cleo and Jeryn collected 93 purses at three locations in Saugeen Shores. The filled purses were distributed to M’Wikwedong Indigenous Friendship Centre, Women’s House Serving Bruce and Grey, Living Hope Food Basket, and transitional housing at Saugeen First Nation. The pair plans on participating again in 2023.

In a post shared to Facebook December 10, the national Fill a Purse campaign collected over 7,200 purses throughout Ontario, Prince Edward Island and British Columbia, as well as 75 backpacks for men and youth in the York region.

For more information about the Fill a Purse for a Sister Campaign, visit fillapurseforasistercampaign.ca.