‘Handbags & Backpacks for Hope' campaign starts in Travis County
Content Warning: This article discusses domestic violence and sexual assault. If you are in distress and need someone to talk to, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text 'Start' to 88788, or call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Travis County Sheriff's Office and nonprofit Texas Advocacy Project (TAP) announced their 2025 'Handbags & Backpacks for Hope' campaign at a Monday press conference, during which they will collect bags to put 'life-saving information in the hands of survivors across Texas.'
The campaign will take new bags, specifically purses, tote bags, diaper bags, and backpacks, at drop off points shown below.
TAP's focus is on supporting survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, stalking and human trafficking, according to its mission statement. The nonprofit has been active since the 1980s.
The nonprofit's CEO Heather Bellino said this year's campaign is the first time TAP has tried to merge its Handbags for Hope and Backpacks for Hope campaigns.
'Many years, we'd get more handbags and less backpacks, but we think if the call to action as elevated and louder, then the community will come together and make sure that we are supplying these very important bags to the people who need them the most,' she said.
'This campaign started at the very beginning of my career, and I have seen it grow and blossom, and it means the world to me, because it says that the community is here in support of victims,' Bellino said. 'We're no longer keeping this hidden … we, as a community, are saying this abuse is not acceptable in our backyard.'
Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez and Travis County Precinct 5 Constable Carlos Lopez also spoke at the Monday press conference.
'We make amplifying the voice of victims a high priority here when it comes to domestic violence and abuse … we want to provide them all of the resources and all the help that we can possibly provide them,' Hernandez said. 'Oftentimes, a survivor of abuse doesn't often get out of that situation quickly, but when they do … they're going to grab whatever.'
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'Domestic violence is an epidemic. The Texas Advocacy Project has been so innovative in coming up with ideas on how we can help the victims escape, because many times they don't have ample time to gather everything that they need,' Lopez said. 'Inside the [bag] is pertinent information that they need when they do escape. When we started all this, the children would give the purses to their mothers on Mother's Day.'
Lopez said he believed the campaign could gather at least 5,000 bags.
The campaign ends June 28.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Delia Ramirez, who sent a letter to ICE demanding answers about the arrest made at Chicago's immigration courts. Ramirez also urged other members of Congress to to demand answers from the administration. Because of the lack of transparency from DHS and other immigration agencies, attorneys can offer limited help, depending on people's cases, said Azadeh Erfani, policy director of the National Immigrant Justice Center. 'They are boxing them in: you will get deported if you show up to your hearing as mandated by law, but you will also get deported if you don't show up to your hearing,' said Erendira Rendon, vice president of immigrant justice at the Resurrection Project, a nonprofit organization that provides legal services to immigrants in need. Over the last week, reports of ICE agents in some of Chicago's predominantly Latino neighborhoods spread rapidly. When neighbors noticed unfamiliar cars on the corner of Troy and 27th streets, in Little Village at around 8 a.m. Tuesday, they quickly contacted their local rapid response team and their aldermen, who confirmed they were ICE agents. Members of the rapid response team, including members of La Villita Se Defiende, which is made up of area residents, approached the agents and patrolled the area until the agents left without making any arrests, according to officials. '(The terrorizing of ICE in our communities) needs to stop, but I fear it won't,' said Ald. Mike Rodriguez, 25th Ward. 'We need to work like hell to protect people and to resist until we get this person (Trump) out of office.' Though the sighting of ICE were just outside his ward, Rodriguez said his office is vigilant and ready to respond when they are notified of immigration officials in the neighborhood 'to make sure people's rights are preserved.' In a Wednesday evening statement, Mayor Brandon Johnson said his office is 'reviewing' the clash, which he described as an 'assault' by federal authorities. 'Mayor Johnson condemns the reckless and dangerous escalation by ICE agents this afternoon in the South Loop,' he wrote. 'Chicagoans have the right to protest the separation of family members by federal immigration enforcement. Federal agents should never be allowed to come into our city and assault elected officials or any Chicagoan.' In Pilsen, however, the community remains alert after ICE, in conjunction with the FBI, arrested two residents who work at a local business near the 1800 block of South Carpenter Street. In both instances, the agents failed to properly identify themselves or present arrest warrants, according to Sigcho Lopez and local rapid response teams. The Pilsen Migra Watch team reported that one of the arrests took place in the private residential area above the local business, which federal agents are not allowed to enter without a warrant signed by a judge.
