A busy season full of LOVE!

Operation Pretty Things is hard at work getting ready for our 13th Annual Christmas Event!!!! WOW!! I can hardly believe its been 13 years!! My heart is so full just thinking about how many women will be blessed by the love and encouragement they will receive at our Annual Christmas Event!!

The event is FREE and will be held on December 13th at the Harrelson Center: 20 North 4th Street, in downtown Wilmington NC. We will be making gifts full of cosmetics and beauty essentials - and love notes…my favorite part! - which will be stuffed and fluffed and delivered to the women just in time for Christmas!

We have extend the Pretty Things Drive until December 8th, to give you a little more time to shop. A list of donation locations can be found HERE. ***We also have a Target Registry for those of you that prefer to shop online. Its a hassle free way to give something special to the women we serve!

Please help us give love and joy this holiday season to these precious women! The kindness is simple and small…but the impact is great! Her are some of the things the women are saying…

“Thank you for the wonderful makeup gifts and the thoughtful, and much needed, handwritten words of love and encouragement that were included in my gift. Those handwritten words were the best gift of al!!!!! You really do make such a difference for all of us survivors!!!”

Cindy, Florida

“What touched me the most was a note from someone who took the time to write words of encouragement - and it’s still on my refrigerator, and that was a year and a half ago. Its silly, the things that touch your heart. But to know that someone took the time to, number one, to make a gift bag, but then also felt compelled to write words of encouragement - just something nice and loving to say to me, that I mattered…it just…it helps.”

April, North Carolina

"The more I hid, the better"

“I did not take any pics of me or my injuries. I know there were photos taken of me for court. But I disposed of every picture I could find during those years. I was so embarrassed, and wanted to keep it all a secret, as I did not want to be judged.  I was an educated graduate from a great college, who had her life together, and a great job. It was so embarrassing to me for others to see me as weak and naive, as if I couldn't stand up for myself. That is not who I was. So personally, the more I hid, the better.” 

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THAT NIGHT…

“I asked him not to drink, and took his 6 pack and put on front porch. Then went back to cooking dinner. Then he snapped. The pushing, slamming me into walls,  and putting hands around my throat or holding me down on the floor, or getting in my face and spitting on me was normal behavior. But this time, he punched me, breaking my jaw, and I fell back, hitting the back of my head on the countertop. I blacked out. I woke up to him taking my truck and leaving me alone in the house with my 3 month old son. I called someone I trusted who came and called an ambulance, and kept it all a secret from my mom and others, as I requested. I got taken to the ER I worked in at the time. It was as embarrassing as can be. And they put me on the “Jane Doe” secret names list, with only certain people allowed to take care of me or come to my room. The Dr. on duty, who was a great friend, filed the charges and forced the state to step in. I was in the hospital for 10 days, as they were trying to keep me safe until they got him - which was 8 days later.”

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THE AFTERMATH

“As a result of that injury, I have a pinched off occipital nerve from the blunt force trauma of my head slamming into the countertop, and have suffered from excruciating headaches for over a decade - had to have 22 steroidal injections monthly in the back of my head and neck for years to manage the pain and treat the damage. I am still in therapy to this day.

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THE SENTENCE

“He got 90 days in jail, because he had an existing criminal record - DUI, assault and battery, etc. He was ordered by the court to pay the medical expenses, but never paid. Its probably 100’s of thousands of dollars in the end. But I’d rather just handle it than have any type of contact ever.”

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FINAL THOUGHTS…

“I used to be attracted to charity cases…people with things I thought I could help or fix. And I have always been a people pleaser… to a fault. I'm also not one to judge people. I try to see the good in everyone, still to this day, and give people benefit of doubt. No one's past should be held against them at all times.

I have tried hard to heal the best I can - lots and lots of super glue to hold the broken pieces together. Some days I have to add more glue when the pieces fall apart, but in the end, I deserve to live my best life, and need to be here for my kids.”

-Rebecca, age 37