TORONTO — Meaghan Coneybeare has started a campaign called Sleep Tight, a simple project that collects new pajamas from the Waterloo community and distributes them to people in need.
“Locally we still have over 6,000 calls for family violence. We have 1,400 sexual assaults, we’re scratching the surface of human trafficking,” said Waterloo Regional Police Chief Brian Larkin.
This year Coneybeare, with the help of the WRPS, will be working to provide pajamas to the YMCA of Kitchener-Waterloo, the Sexual Assault Support Centre and Victim Services of Waterloo Region.
“When I was 14, I left a really abusive home and I left in the middle of the night in the winter, with just the clothes on my back and a few hours later I entered a foster home,” said Coneybeare.
“I literally had nothing to start with, and one of the first items I received was a pair of pajamas and I still remember that pair of pajamas and how new they smelt and how warm they felt. And when I put those pair of pajamas on, I immediately felt comforted and safe and I felt like I had some hope.”
This holiday season, new pajama donations are being accepted at any Waterloo Regional Police station through Jan. 2.
“Just to be able to cover them with that and let them hold themselves, just gives them a chance to breathe,” said Executive Director of Victim Services Diana Boal.
“It’s a physical piece of comfort and I can’t over-emphasize enough how much of a difference something that small can actually make.”
The campaign has a fair amount of children’s pajamas but they are still looking to increase their donations for men and women’s pajamas so that they can reach out to a larger crowd.
“So last year we got about 500 pairs and we reached 500 pairs about two weeks ago. So I’m hoping that we really double that amount this year,” said Coneybeare.
“In sharing my own story, hopefully it inspires other youth that you can take something that was negative and really turn it into a positive.”
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