This is another article in the irregular series of things I’ve done that are out of the normal for me. It’s not about books, although the actions can and do happen in books. It’s about domestic violence and yesterday I attended a packing session to help a lot of other people pack bags for women who’ve suffered domestic violence and need to get away, generally with only with their children and the clothes they’re wearing.

Impact for Women is run by a friend and she’s invited me to these packing events before but yesterday I made the time and went along. She’s managed to get lots of donations from many companies and invited lots of friends and friends of friends to come along and help break the boxes down and pack them into individual bags. During this week they will then be delivered to the organisations that provide help for women who are running from domestic violence, some as far out as Geelong and Bairnsdale.

There were about 90 people in the rooms and I only knew a handful of them. The buzz was fantastic and when Kathy made everyone be quiet so she could make some speeches and hand out some thank you presents the packing noise went on. It was a nice rustle of plastic bags. I barged in on a table of lovely ladies opening packets of chocolates and putting a chocolate and a biscuit in each plastic bag then tying them as if giving a present to a friend. The camaraderie was fabulous to hear and feel.

At the end I found myself helping to pack most of the bags into a storeroom for collecting some time this week some of the people making delivery weren’t able to be there yesterday. It was a fun morning and I hope to be able to repeat it in the future.