Easter a time to give back

Courtney Boyd woke up one Easter morning overwhelmed with anxiety, fear and depression. She… Courtney Boyd woke up one Easter morning overwhelmed with anxiety, fear and depression. She was a victim of domestic abuse at the age of 22, and she was in the Women’s Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh along with her 8-month-old son, Declan. She had only been there one week or so. When she walked into the shelter’s kitchen that morning, an Easter basket full of goodies sent by a church awaited her. ‘I realized at that point that someone cared and knew we were in there,’ she said. The spunky woman with short pixie-cut hair teared up and her voice broke. ‘It was at that moment that I said, ‘I want to give this back.” That moment was eight years ago. Since 2003, Boyd has collected donations to make Easter baskets to send to women’s shelters in Pittsburgh. Between then and now, she’s also been a waitress, a student government president at the Community College of Allegheny County and an undergraduate at Pitt. She’s now a second-year master’s student in Pitt’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. ‘It’s been eight years, and I still cry about it,’ she said. ‘My tears now are of, ‘Wow, look how far I’ve come.” Boyd still keeps in touch with her caseworker, Tansy Lindsay, from her time in the shelter. She said Lindsay is one of a few friends and family members who provide goodies and a helping hand to the ‘Easter basket project.’ Boyd spends about $150 of her own money each year on the project, picking up gifts at garage sales and dollar stores. She said she bought more than 30 makeup bags from Rue 21 when they went on sale. The contents of those makeup bags were scattered in about 50 baskets that Boyd and other volunteers assembled and delivered this weekend. She planned to take about 20 baskets to the Women’s Center and Shelter. ‘We describe all of our donors as really gracious,’ said Adrianne Laing, the shelter’s superviser. ‘But we don’t see it too often when former residents give back.’ Boyd fills the baskets with anything she can find that might help the women and children: shampoo, makeup kits, baby wash, diapers, chocolates, candy. She also takes monetary donations from her friends and family and uses the money to buy more gifts. She’s not afraid to ask strangers to help, either. On the third floor of Posvar Hall, Boyd walks through the halls of GSPIA into a small room with a few computers called the Innovation Clinic. She kept a small basket there this month with green Easter grass and a package of eggs in it, hoping that other students would help fill the basket. In past years, she placed her baskets in the GSPIA student lounge, the main vestibule into the school’s Posvar territory. The 10 members of this year’s GSPIA Student Cabinet voted not to allow Boyd to place a basket there this year. GSPIA’s student cabinet president and first-year master’s student Wallied Shirzoi said Boyd’s project didn’t benefit the entire GSPIA community, so the cabinet didn’t agree with allowing an individual project to use community space. Boyd keeps a basket in the Cougars’ Den at CCAC, a student center she helped launch when she was a student there. That basket is under the blessing of Elmer Haymon, the president of CCAC’s Allegheny campus. Haymon has supported the project since its first year. He’s donated baskets, candy and shampoo over the years and helped Boyd deliver the packages. Last week, there were 20 women and 13 children staying at the Women’s Center and Shelter, said Laing. The center helped more than 9,000 women suffering from intimate-partner abuse last year. The shelter’s beds gave comfort to 300 women and 250 children. ‘These women have often gone through very difficult life changes. They’ve left their home, their neighborhood and taken their children out of their schools,’ said Janet Scott-Mace, the center’s associate executive director. One in four women are the victims of domestic violence during their lifetimes, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. ‘It’s everywhere, in Pittsburgh, too’ said Scott-Mace. ‘Women are told not to tell. They’re told there will be more abuse if they tell. ‘And that’s where the shelter comes in.’ Scott-Mace said that women in relationships should look for warning signs of intimate-partner abuse: ‘Is your partner jealous? Does he control time, friends and your whereabouts? Does he have an unpredictable personality, like a Jekyll-Hyde, and you’re walking around on egg shells?’ She added that abusers often experienced violence as children and might show general disrespect for women and abuse pets. For abused women, centers offer a safe place to stay, safety planning and emotional and legal counseling. ‘Before I went, I thought of a shelter as a place with a lot of open rooms and a couple of beds,’ said Boyd. ‘When you walk in, you feel like your life is a wreck.’ Laing said the holidays are particularly tough for women staying in shelters. ‘Anything to make them feel comfortable and to receive something helps a lot,’ she said. The children are often excited for the presents Boyd provides, and the women swell with emotion, Laing added. Anyone who wishes to seek help from the Women’s Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh should call its 24-hour hotline at 412-687-8005.