The Purple Ribbon Circle
How Your Group Can Help Victims of Family Violence
Groups often call us wanting to help. While we are unable to reveal the locations of our
shelters and the identity of our clients for safety reasons, there are many other ways to
support the work that we do on behalf of adult and child victims of family violence.*
Here are just a few!
Host a fundraiser or drive for Transitions Family Violence
Services.
1)
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Car wash
Bake sale
Yard sale
Raffle/auction
Bowling
Trivia Night
Chili Bowl
Other ideas:
 Make goodie-bags or baskets for families in our shelters (travel size toiletries are
especially needed)
 Host a “Shower for the Shelter” and collect much-needed baby items and kitchen
items
 Conduct a workplace business-wear campaign to collect business suits and other
professional clothing for women in our programs
 Buy and sell Lucinda Pins (100% unique purple ribbon pins).
 Talk to your company about becoming a corporate sponsor, and ask if they give
matching gifts to employee donations.
 Adopt-A-Family for the holidays or year-round.
*
Volunteers who wish to work at the shelter or interact with clients need to complete our 32-hour
comprehensive Volunteer Training and a criminal background check. Call Sanu Dieng at (757) 728-0025.
 Sponsor a fundraising event or drive (cell phones, school supplies, food, and
toiletries) for Transitions. We will be happy to provide ideas and work with you
to organize it.
 Turn in your used cell phones to Transitions and host a cell phone drive at your
workplace, school, and/or place of worship.
 Invite us to speak to your group to help raise awareness of our services and
programs.
2)
Create your own Purple Ribbon Circle
 Create a list of 10-12 people; make a list of friends, acquaintances, family,
colleagues, etc. who might be interested in supporting Transitions Family
Violence Services in your area. Choose those you consider to be passionate
about issues effecting women, children, and men experiencing violence. This
group might meet one time, once a month or perhaps quarterly. Purple Ribbon
Circle members would be asked to: promote the group’s Purple Ribbon activities,
make a personal financial commitment, and fundraise on behalf of Transitions
and your Purple Ribbon Circle.
 Get postcards, stickers, flyers, brochures, and posters from Transitions for your
Purple Ribbon Circle to distribute. We also have purple ribbons, stickers, and fact
cards. Display a “Love Is Not Abuse” Hotline poster in your workplace, church,
salon, or other public place. Contact Transitions to get free copies of this poster
and other family and dating violence posters.
 Create postcards announcing the launch of your Purple Ribbon Circle. Send these
out to businesses, media, schools, youth groups, faith-based groups,
college/university campuses, and police and court departments. Hold a public
event to launch the Circle.
 Build relationships by inviting supporters and the general public to your Purple
Ribbon Circle events. This is an opportunity to build relationships and to ask for
financial and volunteer support for your activities.
3)
Organize a fundraising or community awareness event in
October – Domestic Violence Awareness Month or April –
Child Abuse Prevention Month (and join and support Transitions’
activities during those months and throughout the year)
4)
For College/University Campuses
 Sororities & Fraternities are often required to perform community service work
during the academic year and can be a great resource for local programs. Ask to
meet with their Pan-Hellenic and/or fraternity council representatives. Come
prepared with ideas about how they can adopt and support the campaign:
Transitions Family Violence Services, (757) 728-0025, www.transitionsfvs.org
24-Hour Hotline (757) 723-7774
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o Set-up an internet chat room to talk about dating violence and sexual
assault
o Institute a campus wide response to intimate partner violence
o Create an interdisciplinary task force to address intimate partner violence
o Co-host a forum on campus on global intimate partner violence inviting
students from other countries to facilitate a panel discussion.
o Provide training on intimate partner violence for campus law enforcement.
o Enlist fraternities/sororities in education efforts.
Join the One Thousand Voices Against Violence campaign
5)
 One Thousand Voices Against Violence aims to expose more than a
thousand people in our community to the devastating issue of family violence
and the available resources in the community. This will work by organizing a
series of small, private gatherings.
 Host a local event (none is too small or too large) and invite their friends,
coworkers, neighbors, and family members to spend five to ten minutes
discussing Transitions' mission and the problem of family violence. This can
occur during dinners, cocktail parties, bowling outings, picnics, family reunions,
book clubs, sewing circles, sports events, and in any other venue where people
gather together.
 Transitions will provide the host with free information: an informational packet,
fact sheets, brochures, pocket cards, posters, purple ribbons and other materials
needed to encourage discussion. The purpose of the event is educational,
not fundraising. If someone would like to make a gift, that is wonderful and
welcome, but not required.
 Write a letter-to-the editor on a topic addressed in the campaign such as
homicides in the area related to domestic violence. Write a feature article for
your local or school paper. Write in support of more resources to address and
bring solutions to the problem. For more about working with the media to end
family violence, visit www.endabuse.org.
How Transitions Can Help
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Lend expertise
Provide information and materials on family violence
Serve as a conduit to share other ideas and stories from around the area
Provide creative concepts and tools
Provide fundraising volunteers and staff
Provide free speakers at your events
Transitions Family Violence Services, (757) 728-0025, www.transitionsfvs.org
24-Hour Hotline (757) 723-7774
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We are here to help you set up your Purple Ribbon Circle!
Please call Sanu Dieng at (757) 728-0025 or email sdieng@transitionsfvs.org
Transitions Family Violence Services, (757) 728-0025, www.transitionsfvs.org
24-Hour Hotline (757) 723-7774
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