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When women flee an abusive relationship they sometimes arrive at a shelter with just the clothes on their back and children in tow. What personal belongings they can grab isn’t much.

The Shoebox Project for Shelters, co-ordinated in Ottawa by Tara Shields, Laurence Way and a host of helpers, offers women staying in area shelters luxury gift items to make them feel special. The experience is turning out to be just as rewarding for the receiver as it is the giver.

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Photo by Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen

“As we come and go during our days, we may pass by women’s shelters that serve as home for some of the most disadvantaged or at risk citizens in our nation’s capital. I would like to remind Ottawans about the women who live behind these walls and to encourage them to pull together a shoebox for them this year,” says Shields.

She got involved two years ago after seeing a tweet on Twitter by CTV personality Ben Mulroney, the son of former prime minister Brian Mulroney. When Shields offered help, he put her in touch with family members, including his sister Caroline Mulroney Lapham and wife, Jessica Mulroney, whose mother initially started the project several years ago. The DIY charity initiative is now run in other cities, including Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver and Halifax.