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One in four women will experience intimate partner violence in her lifetime (Samaritan
House), so for my project I chose to support the women staying at the Samaritan House, a home
for women and their children who have been domestically abused. My Area of Interaction for
this is Health and Social because the issue of domestic abuse affects the health of women
physically and mentally through the social interactions between the two people in an abusive
relationship. By starting a shoe drive called Stand Tall, I collected lightly used womens shoes to
donate to the shelter in order to help them prepare for their future outside the home. These
seemingly insignificant articles of clothing will help them become ready for life in the outside
world again, thus helping them to stand tall as well. My goal is to collect a substantial amount
of shoes to give to the shelter so that each of the women staying there will have at least one or
two pairs of shoes that fit them comfortably. I will donate all shoes to the shelter after running
the drive for 2 weeks. I became interested in this topic when searching for an issue that is often
ignored in society. A study based on 10 countries reported that between 55 percent and 95
percent of women who had been physically abused by their partners had never contacted nongovernmental organizations, shelters, or the police for help (Domestic Violence Statistics).
Since domestic abuse is often kept secret, and could essentially affect anyone, I felt that it was
important to spread awareness about this issue and support the women who have escaped their
abusive relationships by focusing my project around them. While researching ways to begin a
project on domestic abuse, I found the website for the Samaritan House in Virginia Beach. This
site provided me with information on their purpose, contact information, their location, and
volunteer/donation opportunities. I spoke with the woman in charge of donations and
volunteering, and she ended up giving me the majority of the information I needed to conduct
my project. The website for the Samaritan House was my main resource throughout this process

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since my entire project revolved around the shelter. I am passionate about this topic because
domestic abuse is an issue that is often disregarded because of many reasons, one of which being
that most women in violent relationships never get their voices heard. Since domestic abuse has
the potential to affect anyone around me I feel that it is important to spread awareness about it to
make it impossible to ignore how common this issue actually is.
To begin my personal project, I started to research my topic as well as ways that I could
incorporate it into a project. Since my topic is focused on abusive relationships and domestic
violence, I decided to first investigate local shelters that could offer me information or ways to
help. This investigation was centered on the simple fact that finding a nearby shelter for victims
of such violence would unify each piece of information that would be needed in reaching my
goal. In my investigations, most of my resources came from the internet because there are not
many printed sources addressing the issue of abusive relationships, as it is often disregarded by
the public. My main source of information came from the Samaritan House (refer to Section 1
Figure D) in my area, including their website and representatives that helped me in the process of
conducting my project. As I delved deeper into my research, I learned a lot about this issue that I
was previously unaware of. One discovery I made was this topics connection to each of Area of
Interaction. Though it can be connected to all of them, domestic violence is most represented by
Health and Social since being in an abusive relationship affects ones health through various
types of social interaction. I also learned that there are more ways to help the victims of domestic
violence than I initially thought, and even a small donation to a shelter can make a difference. By
contributing money to the shelter, the people who run it are able to buy more supplies for those
staying there. This project holds extreme social significance in that it affects the lives of many
women and their children that are staying at the Samaritan shelter. The shoes I donated will help

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the women look towards their future outside the shelter, since most of them were forced to flee
their home with very few belongings. A pair of shoes will prepare them for starting over and help
them to stand tall once they leave the shelter where small things like shoes will not be provided
to them for free. The drive itself and my product, a website, also contain importance because
they spread awareness of the issue at hand, and the more people know about this issue, the more
help victims will receive. Education about this topic will also help victims by spreading an
understanding that abusive relationships are not as rare as they may seem, making the general
public more capable of identifying the signs of someone in this situation, therefore empowering
the public to help. I chose to present my project through the format of a website because it is
easy to access and convenient since technology has taken a huge role in peoples everyday life
(Refer to Section 3 Figures A-D). Another deciding factor was based on my own resources; most
of them are in the form of a website and they helped me to learn about this issue so I believe that
my product being expressed in the form of a website would be the most informational and
efficient format.
The process of conducting this project was not as difficult as I had initially predicted it
would be, but it was very complicated and time-consuming. Time had a large impact on what I
was able to do in regards to the shoe drive and how well I would be able to achieve my goal.
Because of this, I had to plan out my process in great detail in order to make sure everything
went smoothly. To be able to create a shoe drive, I had to contact many companies such as Geico
and Dimensions Hair Studio before I could set out boxes in their buildings, and in some cases it
would take a week before receiving a response. This meant I had to plan extra time to spare due
to my inability to know when Id get a message back from those I had contacted. I also had to
organize how long I wanted the shoe drive to last and set a date to donate all of the shoes. I kept

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the shoe drive going for 2 weeks, so this had a large impact on the amount of shoes I gathered.
The longer I allowed it to run for, the more shoes Id be likely to collect. Despite this, I chose to
keep the drive open for a short period of time because I was unable to collect donations
anywhere other than Dimensions Hair Studio and felt it unnecessary to keep it running for much
longer. Most of my project was very well planned and I had steps laid out to accomplish my goal.
First, I contacted the Samaritan House to have them approve my plan for the overall project and
once they confirmed that it would work (Refer to Section 1 Figure A), I contacted local
businesses including Geico and Dimensions Hair Studio and spread word about my shoe drive
via social media. More specifically, I tweeted about my shoe drive through Twitter and used
family members for attention as well by getting them to post statuses on Facebook advertising
my shoe drive. Finally, after letting my shoe drive run for the 2 week time period, I donated the
shoes to the Samaritan House and created my product, a website that explains my project.
Through this process I learned to prioritize my work by following the strategies and time limits I
set myself. My top priority was to avoid procrastination and conduct my shoe drive before the
start of school which I was fortunately successful in. Another priority was to write in my journal
about my progress in conducting the project as it occurred because writing them later on would
make my reflections less accurate. I had to predict the outcome of my project early on since
choosing how long I wanted my shoe drive to last was a key part of the process and had an
evident impact on how many shoes I would receive. I was able to estimate the amount of shoes I
would receive within the 2 week period, considering the amount of time set for it to last and
amount of advertising I did. I had predicted that around 30 pairs of shoes would be donated to
my drive, but was surprised to receive 50 pairs of shoes (Refer to Section 2 Figure A). I also
predicted that I would be unable to interact with the women staying at the shelter when I dropped

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the shoes off, which I was correct about due to the shelter needing to maintain the victims
privacy and security. With my prediction and actual outcome in mind, I believe the process of
executing this project went extremely well despite the obstacles faced.
To create my shoe drive, I contacted 2 local businesses via email, a nearby Geico office
and Dimensions Hair Studio. While I was granted permission to collect shoes at Dimensions
Hair Studio, I was unable to keep a box inside the Geico office unless I was willing to wait until
December because they were already involved with another charity event. Another box was kept
at my house for family friends to drop off shoes if they had any. In order to spread word about
my shoe drive, I had my mom and aunt post statuses on Facebook since their age range would be
the same to the women staying at the shelter, therefore their shoes would be best suited for them.
For the most part, my project went incredibly well and the only challenge I faced was finding
businesses to hold boxes for my drive. Since Geico office would not be able to hold my drive
when at a convenient time, I ended up having my aunt, who works at that particular office,
personally collect shoes from her coworkers and drop them off at the box I kept at my house. The
only modification I had to make to my project was the format of my final product that I would
present once the entire process was finished. Originally I had planned to present a poster
advertising the shoe drive so that the shoes drive itself could be the product, but since I decided
not to continue it past the 2 weeks, a poster would not be an appropriate product. This would no
longer work because if it is not currently running and the project is finished, an advertisement for
the drive would not be the best choice for a final product to present. I also did not have enough
photos from the conduction of my project to create a video or slideshow so I decided on creating
a website explaining my shoe drive and what it accomplished. I chose to do this because I
believed it would efficiently convey my project and give an accurate representation of what my

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goal was. While my final project was the shoe drive, this cannot be physically shown now that it
is over so I formatted the finished product as a website called Stand Tall, which is the same name
as the shoe drive itself. This website describes the entire project and specifically focuses on my
experience with the shoe drive and how successful I feel it was. It also includes photographs of
the shoes donated as well as pictures of myself donating them at the Samaritan House (Refer to
Section 2 Figures A-D).
Throughout my entire time completing this project, one Area of Interaction, Approaches
to Learning has developed more and become stronger. I am more in touch with how I learn best,
which I have discovered is either through a kinesthetic or visual style of teaching. Seeing the
Samaritan Shelter and actually doing something to help the issue of domestic violence had made
me much more understanding of this topic. This level of comprehension could not have been
achieved without the journey of this project. Simply reading about this topic would not have
taught me the same things holding a shoe drive did. This project mostly helped me improve my
organizational and reflective skills which are the ones I was originally not very strong with.
Since this shoe drive required the involvement of many people I had no choice but to be more
organized and responsible than I ordinarily am. Another factor that pushed my organizational
skills would be time which I was worried I would not have enough of if I didnt stay put together
throughout the entire process. Being unorganized was not much of an option regardless of my
struggles in the past with keeping things together since the entire project relied on my ability to
organize and execute a shoe drive with the help of other people. I would not have had their
assistance if my project had been unorganized and not well thought out. My reflective skills were
improved simply by the project itself. Learning about families forced to flee because of an
abusive partner and how every 9 seconds in the US a woman is assaulted or beaten (Domestic

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Violence Statistics) changed my outlook on life and made me more appreciative of my own
home life because of my realization that things could be a lot worse. Through this project, I was
forced to put myself in their shoes and imagine what it would be like to leave most, if not all, of
my belongings like the women at the shelter did. Thinking from their perspective was necessary
in the very beginning of my project because I had to think of a simple way to help the women
staying there, eventually realizing that even something simple like a pair of shoes could make a
huge difference to them as an individual. Writing in my journal also made me reflect about what
I accomplished each day as the project progressed which later helped me to remember everything
that this project taught me over the course of the summer. To communicate my understanding of
all of these things, my final project describes everything that was accomplished and learned from
running the shoe drive.
This entire project has been a very unforgettable experience that has taught me things that
I believe were necessary not only as a student, but also as a person. Throughout the process my
skills as a responsible student were put to the test since I was expected to complete this project
over summer break, meaning I was completely responsible for when I started and ended the
project. It also required me to set time aside from traveling and working to work on the project. I
was pushed to communicate with many other people to make the shoe drive possible and stay
organized to make it successful. Project aside, helping women who were strong enough to leave
an abusive relationship showed me how fortunate I really am and how important this issue is
especially since it can affect anyone. It put a lot of things in perspective for me, and also taught
me that small things can make a huge difference, even if it doesnt outwardly seem like it. I think
that my goal of helping these women was successful because even if my shoe drive did not
become largely popular or last for a very long time, it did make a difference by giving some

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women a basic necessity which is all I could hope to do. As mentioned before, the purpose of my
shoe drive was to help these women stand tall, which was accomplished both literally and
metaphorically. The Areas of Interaction were very significant in my project because they helped
me to better understand the issue and project overall, especially Health and Social and
Approaches to Learning. These two Areas helped me to plan and reflect more efficiently because
I was able to comprehend what I was doing by connecting them back to the goal. I am very
pleased with my project and believe its strengths lie in its success and the smooth process leading
to the achievement of my goal. I faced very few difficulties, and those that did occur were luckily
very easy to solve. I am very proud of what I have accomplished and hope to continue to help
others in the future.

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Works Cited
Anger as 96pc of Wife Beaters Avoid Jury Trial The Daily Mail. Gale Virtual Reference
Library. 25 Sept. 2013. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.
Brown, Isobel. Domestic Crime. Broomall, PA: Mason Crest Publishes Inc., 2003. Print.
Crawford, Emma. Women's Understanding of the Effects of Domestic Abuse: the Impact on
their Identity, Sense of Self and Resilience Journal of International Womens
Studies

(2009): N. pag. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.

"Domestic Violence Statistics." Domestic Violence Statistics. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2013.
"The International Baccalaureate | The IB Offers High Quality Programmes of International
Education to a Worldwide Community of Schools." The International Baccalaureate | The
IB Offers High Quality Programmes of International Education to a Worldwide
Community of Schools. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2013.
Samaritan House. N.p., 2012. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.
Wexler, Barbara. Violent Relationships. Ed. Ellice Engdahl. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2003.
Print.

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Appendix
Section 1: Emails
A.

Section 2: Photographs
A.

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B.

C.

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D.

Section 3: Website

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A.

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B.

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C.

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D.

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