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From left: Elizabeth Vermette, Good Shepherd of Northern Virginia's chief operating officer, and Isabel Mayer, the chief missions and operating officer, at Handbags for Hope on Jan. 7.
Times-Mirror/Karen Graham
Good Shepherd of Northern Virginia held a “Handbags for Hope” fundraising event at Belmont Country Club in Ashburn on Jan. 7 and raised over $42,000 to support the nonprofit’s programs that help homeless women and children.
The two-day event kicked off on Jan. 6 at A New View retail store in Ashburn, where attendees could bring used handbags to donate to Good Shepherd’s thrift and eBay stores and bid on new handbags in a silent auction.
The second event was the next day with a brunch and additional raffle and silent auction items. Lisa Adams, founder of the Loudoun County Social Collectives, was the keynote speaker.
Elizabeth Vermette, Good Shepherd’s chief operating officer, and Isabel Mayer, the chief missions and operating officer, said that they were thrilled with the turnout at both events.
“As a mom, a lot of our kids do sports and summer camps, and these parents can't afford that. So this opportunity is going to create that for our children in the shelters,” Mayer said. “This is a true picture of the unity that we have in Loudoun County.”
“The people that we are going to be able to help the most are the children,” Vermette said. “So if they can look back at this time in their life when they didn't have a house and remember that they lived in a Good Shepherd shelter and people were kind to them and they had what they needed and they felt loved and welcomed, that could change their lives. But we can't do it without the support of the community. Which is why it is so amazing that we had so many people come out today.”
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