Have you donated to the Gazette Gift Card Drive for WomenShelter to help victims of domestic violence? What are you waiting for?<\/p>\n
The deadline for donations is just 10 days away \u2013 Dec. 14. You don\u2019t want to miss your chance to win a table for 10 at the Long Beach Symphony\u2019s Sounds of Laurel Canyon Pops concert on March 21, 2026 (for a donation of $50 or more).<\/p>\n
That is admittedly cool, but the real reason to donate is to help those heading into the holiday season at perhaps the toughest time of their lives \u2013 trying to overcome the trauma of domestic violence.<\/p>\n
This week, I want to tell you about a man who has successfully come out the other side. That\u2019s right, I said a man \u2013 men can be abused too, and WomenShelter is ready and willing to help.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was being physically and verbally abused, but I didn\u2019t want to walk (out) because of the kid,\u201d Val (not his real name) said. \u201cI had been talking to my sister for about a year and she kept telling me I should go to get counseling there (WomenShelter), but I just had really low self-esteem.\u201d<\/p>\n
That could be the story of a woman being abused, word for word. But it can be harder to do something about it if you are a man.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt like a (expletive) going at first,\u201d Val said. \u201cI told myself, \u2018you\u2019re a man.\u2019 But there were a couple of other guys there when I did go.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had gone through three years of abuse; I guess in the back of my mind I always thought it would get better. Then we had a kid, and it got worse, not better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Val said he had turned to alcohol to cope with his depression, but figured out that wasn\u2019t working. He started attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings via Zoom, then took his sister\u2019s advice and dropped by a group session at WomenShelter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI took notes for probably three months, writing down what I should have said,\u201d Val recalled. \u201cThat was before I could talk (about it). Then it was a huge breakthrough.\u201d<\/p>\n
With WomenShelter\u2019s help, Val made the decision to leave the abusive situation. It took a year of fighting, but he now has visitation rights with his daughter on weekends.<\/p>\n
And he\u2019s been sober for almost two years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was at complete rock bottom,\u201d Val said. \u201cI knew right away it (WomenShelter) wasn\u2019t somewhere I had to be scared. I felt calm there. I could express myself without being judged. It felt like I was falling into open arms.\u201d<\/p>\n
Val is only one of hundreds of abuse victims being helped through WomenShelter. You can help him and all those others by donating a gift card or cash this holiday season \u2013 Val would really like to get his daughter a good Christmas gift this year.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s where you come in, gentle reader. With your donation to the Gazette Gift Card Drive, you can provide the resources to help brighten lives facing dark times.<\/p>\n
I mentioned the little incentive early in the column \u2013 everyone who donates $50 or more will be entered into a drawing to win a great table for 10 at the Long Beach Symphony POPS concert next March.<\/p>\n
But time is ticking. It\u2019s Dec. 4 \u2013 even later if you\u2019re reading this in the Press Telegram \u2013 and we want to wrap up the drive on Dec. 14 to get the cards distributed before the holiday.<\/p>\n
The best gift cards are from those \u201ceverything\u201d stores like WalMart and Target. But we\u2019re not picky \u2013 anything is truly appreciated.<\/p>\n
You can drop gift cards or checks off at the WomenShelter\u2019s Resource Center, 4201 Long Beach Blvd., Suite 102, or at drop boxes in stores around the city. You can also donate by mail to Grunion Gift Card Drive, P.O. Box 17098, Long Beach, CA 90807.<\/p>\n
Checks should be made out to WomenShelter Long Beach with Gift Card Drive on the memo line.<\/p>\n
We have joined the computer age, and you can also donate directly online at the WomenShelter website, www.womenshelterlb.org. Go to the bottom of the home page and click on the Support The Grunion Holiday Gift Card Drive link or use this link \u2013 Donation Form.<\/p>\n
You can also take donations to our drop-off boxes at these local businesses:<\/p>\n
\u2014 Belmont Shore Optometric, 5219 2nd St.\u2013 Dainty Disco, 3972 Atlantic Ave.\u2013 LB Swag, 5304 2nd St.\u2013 Frosted Cupcakery, 4817 2nd St.<\/p>\n
Drop-offs can be made during each store\u2019s regular business hours.<\/p>\n
This is the 22nd year for the Gazette Gift Card Drive. Over that time, you and your fellow readers have been very generous \u2013 more than $350,000 generous. I\u2019m counting on you again this year.<\/p>\n
I know these are uncertain times. But I\u2019m certain that your big heart will come through.<\/p>\n
Thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Have you donated to the Gazette Gift Card Drive for WomenShelter to help victims of domestic violence? What…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30193,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[7,8462,8461,131,133,132,137,3738],"class_list":["post-81442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-california","tag-grunion-opinion","tag-grunion-pinch-of-salt","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-los-angeles-county","tag-the-grunion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}