BATON ROUGE - The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office (EBRSO) recently held a holiday season donation drive to collect supplies and raise awareness for the IRIS Domestic Violence Center.

As IRIS helps survivors of domestic abuse and their families discreetly transition into a life that no longer includes domestic violence, survivors of such trauma need to feel as comfortable as possible. This is why EBRSO's deputies donated laundry baskets filled with clothing, household items, children’s toys and hygiene products to help these individuals.

EBRSO Detectives, SCAT and the Community Policing Unit delivered the donations to the Center on Tuesday, where Executive Director John Price and staff expressed their gratitude. 

“I’m so proud of the overwhelming response of donations from our office,” Sheriff Sid Gautreaux said. “We hope that we can help encourage, protect and instill hope in victims of domestic violence. I’m especially appreciative of the work done to protect victims throughout the year by our Domestic Violence Unit and Detectives.” 

EBRSO Lt. Patti Freeman, past Vice President of the Iris Domestic Violence Center’s Board of Directors, will take over as Board President this January. 

For more information about the Iris Domestic Violence Center or how you can give, visit www.stopdv.org .