Support InterAct’s Holiday Bazaar for Giving Tuesday!
What Is InterAct’s Holiday Bazaar?
Holiday Bazaar in a Box is InterAct’s holiday tradition of providing a gift of seasonal goodies, a cozy blanket, a family game, and most importantly, Gift Cards so survivors can personally select gifts for their children and themselves.
Why Gift Cards? The Empowerment of Choice!
It may seem impersonal to the giver, but a gift card is the most personally empowering gift we can give a survivor. A gift card offers the power of choice to survivors who have likely been stripped of that right, and it provides survivors the opportunity to exercise autonomy, build dignity, and participate in holiday preparations alongside their community. By providing gift cards, or a donation towards the purchase of gift cards, you are offering the empowerment of choice. From now through Dec. 4, we are accepting $25 gift cards for Target and Walmart. Our clients may not be able to access a computer to use an online gift card. Target and Walmart are accessible throughout the community. We hope to receive enough to offer each family $100 worth of gift cards for each family member.
Why Your Support Matters
Many of our clients have lived in situations where they have little or no financial control. The gift cards they receive enable them to select gifts for their children and others—and to regain the dignity and agency that they have longed for. So many tell us they did not know what they were going to do for this holiday—each thank you is suffused with joy and relief. One by one, families come into InterAct, where they are greeted warmly and ushered into the “bazaar,” where they pick out a wreath, have hot cocoa and a snack, and sit for a family photo that is framed and given to them on the spot. They also have an opportunity to choose a family game, a warm blanket, and other seasonal items. Finally, they are given the gift cards that will enable them to create a special holiday for their families.
“My family and I recently began a new life in a safe new home. Holiday Bazaar gave me the chance to choose gifts for my children. I was unsure how I could give them Christmas in our new home–and InterAct gave me a way.” —Janice
We are also accepting cash donations towards the purchase of gift cards. If you can’t get out to purchase cards or bring them to us, we are happy to accept donations. Our Giving Tuesday campaign is focused on underwriting Holiday Bazaar gift card purchases.
“I just couldn’t believe how generous people were to donate to Holiday Bazaar. It was so helpful for my family.” —Deborah
Your gifts make a very big difference. Thank you!
“You are loved, you are worthy, you are enough, your life matters.”
InterAct’s longtime community partner, Amy Montgomery, was interviewed by CBS17 last week after stopping by InterAct to confirm plans for her annual Thanksgiving donation delivery in memory of her daughter Emily.
In 2020, during Thanksgiving week, Amy’s adult daughter, Emily, was tragically killed by domestic violence. Emily left behind her then 5-year-old son, Greyson, whom Amy is now raising. Amy connected with InterAct shortly after this tragedy. As she learned more about InterAct’s services and its mission to end domestic violence, she often expressed how she wished Emily had known about InterAct and been able to receive its life-saving support.
Motivated to remember Emily and to raise awareness, Amy and Greyson began a Thanksgiving food drive to help stock InterAct’s pantry. Included with the donated pantry items are letters to domestic violence survivors written by Grayson, Amy, and volunteers. Amy has this message for victims and survivors of domestic violence: “I just want you to know you are loved, you are worthy, you are enough, your life matters.”
What started as a small act of remembrance has become an annual tradition that grows every year. Amy and Greyson arrived with their donation truck on November 20 for the fifth year of this special event. Volunteers from the Apex Police Department and InterAct staff were on hand to help unload. Joyful chaos ensued, and everyone involved was uplifted by this meaningful event.
You can read the news story and watch the CBS17 news video here.
In the Community
DVAM Purple Thursday: Honoring Voices, Illuminating Hope at NCSU
InterAct staff and volunteers attended Honoring Voices, Illuminating Hope on NC State’s campus—a moving and uplifting tribute to victims of domestic homicide and a resource fair raising awareness for domestic violence.
The event, which has become a campus tradition during Domestic Violence Awareness Month, featured live models representing North Carolinians who lost their lives to intimate partner violence over the past year. In addition to walking the stage as names were read, models posed beside tributes celebrating each victim’s life. Some attendees carried images of lost loved ones and shared emotional moments of remembrance. InterAct was present to provide information, resources, and compassionate support throughout the event.
Volunteer Spotlight
12 members of the Omega Lambda Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.® delivered a large pantry donation and took a tour of InterAct. Martina, a SANE at InterAct’s Solace Center, spearheaded the event in honor of DVAM.
9 CSL Seqirus employees spent their company’s volunteer day at InterAct. They prepared Holiday Bazaar blankets and hot drink kits, sorted and packaged children’s clothing, spruced up the garden, and packed information folders. CSL Seqirus also contributed $500 worth of supplies for the volunteer event.
Fiscal Year 2024-2025 Impact Report
7,527 Unduplicated Clients Served—the Highest in our History—UP 8.5%
496 Walk-In Crisis Interventions UP 136%
9,129 Crisis Line Calls Answered
145 Solace Center Forensic Exams UP 33%
1,477 Court Advocacy Services—Criminal court services UP 68%
42 Protective Order Petitions eFiled UP 600%
242 Individuals Sheltered (102 children)
62 families secured permanent, sustainable, safe housing
1,506 Lethality Assessment Protocol (LAP) screenings
695 Sexual Assault Cases Served UP 63%
5,584 Domestic Violence Cases Served UP 118%
2,483 Community Education/Engagement Participants UP 7%
11,341 Hours of service from 51 volunteers + interns
Thank You
Grantors, Donors, and Supporters!
Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church
Capital City Clauses
Searstone Retirement Community
Rising Jewelry
Caterpillar Inc.
Allstate Foundation
NC Local Music Festival
Knights of Columbus 9709
W. Trent Ragland Foundation