BOSTON, Mass. -- One of our SJS staff, Gayle Sachs, Life Skills Coordinator with Watson Academy, has taken on a very special project with the assistance of her 11 year old daughter. 

Over the past several years, she had amassed quite a collection of hotel amenities and other beauty product samples of all types.  It occurred to Gayle that whatever pleasure she received from these items, they might be much more useful to our women residents coming out of prison with nothing.  Her thought was that although these are small sizes, they are nonetheless a luxurious treat.

Gayle asked friends from all over the country via a post on Facebook to consider doing the same thing, and within minutes she had ten friends asking where they could send their own collections of unused and unopened products.  One local friend took a collection in her office.  The first package received was from Texas, from someone Gayle had never even met in person, but who is a friend of a friend.

Gayle and her daughter gathered at their dining room table, sorting shampoo, conditioner, soaps and lotions, and created the “welcome kits” shown in the photos below.  Her daughter fully understood the implications of the project, and was determined to make sure that each and every kit was as exciting as the others.  Gayle was sure that the women coming into McGrath House, women she sees each week during her Life Skills groups, would appreciate getting something wrapped in a ribbon, created by a mother and daughter.  She could not have been more correct – the women are touched and thrilled with these gifts.

The intent of Gayle and her daughter is for this to be an ongoing project as friends continue to send more items.  What a fantastic project for a Mom and daughter to take on, and one that this young girl will undoubtedly remember, and hopefully carry on.