Mother turns tragic loss of daughter into an uplifting nonprofit

Patricia Brusha lost her 28-year-old daughter, Courtney, in 2019 to alcohol abuse. Courtney’s death and experiences in rehab led Patricia to start a non-profit called “Purse Impressions,” which provides fresh-start purses and backpacks to people who’ve graduated from rehab. We talked to Patricia to learn more about the program.

“Purse-Impressions, we provide fresh start purses and backpacks for graduates of rehab,” Brusha said.

This nonprofit idea all began when Brusha’s daughter, Courtney, would be in and out of rehab and when you leave rehab, they only give an individual a plastic bag to carry their items out.

“She felt that it wasn’t dignified that she spent all of this time doing something good for herself…but to walk out she wanted to make a good first impression and that’s why we called it, ‘Purse-Impressions’,” Brusha said.

At the age of 27 Brusha’s daughter became diagnosed with stage-4 cirrhosis of the liver due to alcoholism and ultimately passed away the following year at the age of 28.

Brusha began this purse idea with her daughter before she passed and at her memorial, Brusha requested purses in lieu of flowers. They received 400 purses that day for graduates of rehab.

After the passing of her daughter, Brusha was determined to keep this idea alive. She currently runs a boutique in Cave Creek filled with purses to be sold for donations to her nonprofit.

“I can’t believe what support we’ve gotten,” Brusha said. She added that she’s learned two things in the journey: everyone can relate to the story of addiction and the second thing is, women have a lot of purses.

To learn more about this organization and how to donate, you can go to purse-impressions.com