By CRAIG FREILICH

BRUSHTON -- A charity begun last year by a local woman who has lived longer than doctors predicted has now had a second Christmas season that was more successful than the first.

“I was diagnosed terminally ill and I was not supposed to make it 10 years. Last year was my tenth year,” said Creigh Landis of Brushton, who last year began a program called the PrettyGirls Purse Project.

“I decided if I might only have one last Christmas that it'd be special,” she said. “I started PrettyGirl Purse Project and I'm thankful I am still here and had another unbelievably successful year.”

PrettyGirl Purses was started as a holiday charity for women's services and shelters in St. Lawrence and Franklin counties. “The idea is to take neglected, gently used purses and fill them with hygiene, sanitary, and beauty items,” Landis said.

At Christmas time in 2015, she said, 171 purses and bags were delivered. “And this year we did 254,” 75 percent of them in St. Lawrence County. “With the help of the community, it really snowballed into something amazing,” she said.

This year they went to Renewal House in Canton and the Potsdam Neighborhood Center, and to the Neighborhood Center in Canton, which in turn is distributing them to the Neighborhood Centers in Massena, Ogdensburg, Gouverneur and Colton/Parishville/Pierrepont. Each bag or purse has at least 15 items each.

“She dropped off about 98 purses here with a variety of things in them,” said Canton Neighborhood Center Director Shannon Garvey. There were so many, she said, that she contacted the other Neighborhood Centers to distribute some of them.

“I think it’s a great program. It’s awesome she’s doing this,” Garvey said. “Everyone loves them. They’re all different.”

“As women and young girls, the smallest thing can make us feel pretty and when we feel better about ourselves, our moods are just naturally lifted,” Landis said.

The purses and their contents are geared toward “women and young ladies that are in shelters or receiving services for general setbacks in life like spousal abuse, domestic violence, unemployment, general homelessness, addiction, illness, mental health issues, phobias. I know a lot of us have experienced or know someone that has gone through one of those situations. I can personally say without the help of family, friends, and a great support system, I don't know where I'd be.”

She said her illness presents challenges daily, and now that the busy time with the purses is mostly over, she’s taking it easy, but she hopes to be able to tell us a year from now about an even bigger success with her program.

She said there were too may donors and helpers to name –easily more than 100 -- but she wanted to express her thanks to them all.

“The community really came together to help me make this small idea something huge.”