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Ohio Group Donates 1,000 Homemade Clothing and Toiletry Kits to Sex Assault Victims at Hospital

The trauma of sexual assault doesn’t end when the attack is over.

For some victims, the acts of reporting the incident to police and then going to the emergency room for a post-assault examination are also devastating.

But one Cleveland-based organization is trying to give local victims — both children and adults — a small measure of comfort on a day that may otherwise feel like the worst one of their lives.

Often, during a post-assault hospital exam, a survivor must turn over the clothing they were wearing as evidence for authorities to scour for DNA. Afterwards, the patient may be left with nothing to wear home except thin, unsightly hospital scrubs: no underwear, bra or even real shoes.

Cleveland’s Threads of Love and Comfort (TLC) program, run by the National Council of Jewish Women/Cleveland (NCJW/CLE), seeks to change that.

In 2016, the NCJW/CLE met with the local MetroHealth Hospital about working together. After speaking with the hospital’s SANE nurses (sexual assault nurse examiners), the organization learned “[the hospital] did not have enough clothing to give to victims to wear home,” says Cyndy Fellenbaum, co-chair of the TLC program. “They gave us this list of how we could help and told us the sizes they needed.”

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That’s when volunteers began to compile and distribute care packages of new clothing and toiletries to victims being treated at MetroHealth.

Volunteers putting together TLC kits | National Council of Jewish Women/Cleveland
Volunteers putting together TLC kits | National Council of Jewish Women/Cleveland

“We provide a T-shirt or sweatshirt, sweatpants, bras, underwear, socks, flip-flops and toiletry kits, washcloths, soft brushes — sometimes they’ve had their hair pulled [during an assault], so we want to give them a soft brush. We also give a fleece blanket and a teddy bear [to child victims],” says Wendie Forman, a TLC program co-chair.

Each kit also contains a note from a volunteer with a handwritten message designed to show support in a difficult moment.

Handwritten note in a TLC kit for a survivor
Handwritten note in a TLC kit for a survivor

The innovative TLC program later expanded, and now serves four area hospitals: MetroHealth; University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital; University Hospital Main; and Hillcrest (a Cleveland Clinic hospital).

Since its 2016 launch, TLC has provided free kits to more than 1,000 victims, making a small but concrete difference in many lives — even young children’s.

“We’ve had to provide underwear as small as 4T,” Forman says, “and that’s not even the youngest patient they see.”

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Kathleen Hackett, a SANE nurse and forensic program coordinator at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, tells PEOPLE she couldn’t be more grateful for the “truly amazing” ways the TLC program has helped the child patients she works with every day.

“When kids come to the hospital, they’re anxious just being there: It’s a scary place and they have no control,” Hackett explains. “The children we take care of don’t remember what the doctors and nurses say, but the kids remember how they felt there. I’ve seen kids wrap up in the fleece blankets [from the TLC kits]; sometimes they put them over their head. It allows them to create a smaller environment all their own.”

Volunteers at the National Council of Jewish Women/Cleveland assembling a fleece blanket | National Council of Jewish Women/Cleveland
Volunteers at the National Council of Jewish Women/Cleveland assembling a fleece blanket | National Council of Jewish Women/Cleveland

“People can’t heal from sexual assault until they feel safe,” Hackett continues, noting how much her young patients appreciate being able to select their own underwear color from the TLC kits. “The ability to make even a little choice really impacts their relationship with us, and it gives them a sense of control back.”

For Cleveland residents who want to help, the NCJW/CLE hosts regular “power hours” where members meet to assemble TLC kits.

“Volunteers make the blankets and teddy bears, write the cards, deliver the kits, and reach out to donors,” Fellenbaum says.

Sock company Bombas has donated thousands of pairs of socks to the program, Fellenbaum says, while Michaels craft store gave the group a substantial discount on T-shirts. The group is also also hoping to switch from flip-flops to slides, but don’t currently have the resources.

But Fellenbaum and Forman’s biggest hope is that “other communities will want to start similar programs in their own cities. The need is certainly there,” Forman says.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to online.rainn.org.