By Amira Van Leeuwen
KYLE — Residents will have the opportunity to donate pillows to provide domestic violence victims a sense of security through the Pillows for Peace project.
On Oct. 18, the Kyle City Council listened to a presentation by Vanessa Westbrook, Kyle-Buda Kiwanis Club treasurer, and resident Cynthia Bentley about Pillows for Peace.
The project was first introduced to Kyle and the surrounding areas in October 2013 in recognition of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. What started out at just 32 pillows has now jumped to 5,000 pillows statewide.
Pillows for Peace will be hosting a pillow donation event at Kohl’s, located at 20185 Marketplace Ave, throughout the day on Nov. 5. These pillows will be donated to the Hays Caldwell-Women’s Center for those in need.
“The idea behind Pillows for Peace is that you get to this facility and you’re given a pillow, whether it be an adult, whether it be a child, that you can hold onto, lay your head down and just for a moment, close your eyes in order to get just a small amount of sleep,” Westbrook said.
The HCWC has a mission to create an environment where violence and abuse are not tolerated in the community and provide educational violence prevention services and crisis intervention, among other things, to the victims in Hays county. According to the presentation, the center served 2,055 victims in 2021.
“We hope that we can call on the community to come by and drop off a nice, brand new pillow or two so that we can add to the collection, which will be sent over to the women’s center, and then these will be given out as needed to those that come there,” Westbrook said.
Bentley also shared her personal domestic violence experience.
“Domestic violence is not always something physical, something that you can see,” Bentley said. “When I was doing my research on some of the signs of it I kept realizing, that’s me, that’s me. I put up with that for 21 years before I got the strength to leave.”
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, call 800-799-7233.
