New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
Meet Jen Blum, 40-year-old esthetician and founder of the Help Save Foundation.
Jen, like many women today, was trapped in an abusive relationship for 13 years and nobody had any idea. After mustering the courage, she planned an escape and took her two sons with her. After an unsuccessful attempt at getting the police to listen to her story, she finally got them to investigate.
Jen knew that in the wake of the events she had just endured, that she wanted to help other women who might be in the same situation she had found herself in. This sparked the creation of the Help Save Foundation, a local non-profit, which is focused on helping those stuck in abusive relationships become free and safe, while aiding them in rebuilding their lives.
Along with the efforts in aiding these women in removing themselves and their children from these situations, Jen focuses on helping women in shelters who’ve suffered as well. In the last year, she and her team have put on several projects, such as Project You’re Beautiful. The focus was to compile handbags to give to women in shelters who’ve fled domestic abuse and were left with nothing, filled with all of the necessities a woman might need. They were successful in getting over a three hundred handbags to women in shelters throughout Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.
Her hope is that by showing other women where she was in the midst of her abusive situation and where she is now, that they too can find life after domestic violence.
Faces of New Bedford is a project by Colton Simmons. If you are interested in booking a shoot or getting prints from the series email all inquiries to colton@coltonsimmons.com.
Follow Colton on Instagram: https://instagram.com/simmonscolton
Read more of the Faces of New Bedford series here.
