The season of giving and helping those in need is upon us. In our community, Green Hope strives to be part of that: hosting toy drives, various holiday service projects, and having service clubs for students to join- all contributing to the month of gratitude. The Women’s Shelter Support Club gives people a chance to be part of service while giving back to others- sustaining our community. The club aids the local women’s crisis center of Raleigh and provides women in need with assistance such as drives and serving meals. 

The club started during the beginning of the 2021-22 school year; when the co-presidents of WSSC: Deepa Ramesh (‘24) and Farah Rosaleen (‘24) decided their joint passion of helping out women in the local area could be brought to school and directly make an impact within the community.

Rosaleen explains how she thought the club would be a good fit for the school, “I wanted to start the club since I noticed there weren’t a lot of women or feminist oriented clubs, so I thought it would be a great opportunity for Green Hope students to help out women.” With only one prominent women’s shelter in the triangle area: the efforts made by the club hosting various donation events and meals directly correlate to the Women’s Center in Raleigh. 

Actively being part of the community, the club gives people the opportunity to stretch beyond just contributing to drives: opening the possibility of meeting these women during service and truly connecting while interacting with women in need. Ramesh states, “The women’s shelter serves women that have experienced abuse and domestic violence- oftentimes these women are not supported in the community, mainly focusing on other groups and this way highlighting a marginalized group specifically.” The club wants to highlight and bring forth awareness for a group that is often overlooked in Cary. 

For the holidays, the club will be having a Christmas meal at the women’s center in Raleigh. Club members will contribute to the various food donations and be part of the meals at the Women’s center directly. With talks of collaborating with a well known organization, GirlUp NC, a gift card drive may be in the works as well. A gift card drive has a member pay for the gift card and when a woman from the center attends a stimulating class they will be given the gift card. This is an opportunity for women to get assimilated, bringing attention to the need of these women being integrated back to everyday life. Upcoming Mother’s Day event will have students contribute donations for the center such as formula, baby toys, baby hygiene products, clothes, etc.

The Women’s Shelter Support Club allows many students to go beyond: contributing to the giving atmosphere and truly making a difference, interacting with women in need on a first hand basis. Bringing awareness to domestic violence and abuse victims, the club emphasizes the community effort in supporting women.