Florida woman makes a difference to local survivors of domestic abuse - one tube of lipstick at a time
A Florida woman is making a difference for local survivors of domestic violence, one tube of lipstick at a time.
She started a non-profit just four years ago that is marking a milestone.
Sheryl Kurland and her volunteers have donated 65,000 tubes of lipstick to shelters across the U.S. including four here in Illinois.
"My mom always said, ‘Sheryl, if you want to feel better, just go put on a little lipstick.’ and that was a lightbulb moment," said Kurland.
Six years ago, Sheryl Kurland made a beautiful discovery.
At the end of a workshop for abused shelter women, she handed out lipstick.
"The room transformed. The pain lifted. There was joy and happiness. These women were helping each other pick the right color. They were chit-chatting like women, and I was like, ‘This is unbelievable,’" said Kurland.
Kurland made over her life, making it her mission to provide as much lipstick as she could to women's shelters across the country.
"Domestic violence and abuse and narcissistic abuse - it literally strips away any confidence, any self-esteem that person had," said Talechia Sampson, a case worker with Empowering Native Daughters Shelter.
Sampson assists abuse survivors at a shelter in North Carolina. They receive the lipstick donations.
"It provides them with confidence, that instant boost of confidence when they put on these lipsticks and especially in corals and ruby reds and hot pink lipsticks," said Sampson.
The lipstick can be transformational, putting the women back in control.
"It's a fresh start when they get that new lipstick," said Kurland.