Ed and Barb Lavin
Caring Friends of PebbleCreek thank all our volunteers and residents for their generosity in helping the women and children of New Life Center enjoy the holidays!
On Sunday, December 17, Caring Friends of PebbleCreek celebrated 10 years of sharing, loving and giving to the residents of New Life Center. We met at the ballroom in Eagle’s Nest with our arms filled with gifts for the moms and children. Muriel Long entertained us with beautiful piano music and Vera Cappiello led us in singing Christmas carols. Great food, beverages and beautiful music created a festive atmosphere to enjoy the holidays and share stories about our time spent with the residents. We all came to the realization that even though we do give of ourselves to the moms and children, we actually get much more out of this involvement than we give!
New Life Center is a shelter here in Goodyear for abused women and children. When the family arrives (from anywhere in the U.S.), they are assigned an advocate who works with them and helps them through their trauma. They are given help with writing a resume, looking for employment, job skills, parenting skills, etc. They can stay for up to four months; New Life helps them with the next step which is usually transitional housing or an independent apartment.
Caring Friends is a group of about 100 PebbleCreek residents who take food to enhance their meals, do a complete makeover of a casita (each family lives in their own casita) quarterly, and help out in any way we are needed. Our most important goal is to bring joy and happiness to the residents and give them hope. This is our passion because in Arizona, over 100 women are killed each year in domestic violence incidents and 10 percent occur right here in the West Valley.
If you have questions or are interested in helping at New Life Center, please contact Susan Allen or Liz Zelazo at New Life Center 623-932-4404. You can also give Barb and Ed Lavin here in PebbleCreek a call at 623-536-5636 or email [email protected].