In a couple months I'll be participating for the second consecutive year in Dressember, an initiative that uses fashion to raise money and awareness for anti-human trafficking work. I know it's early, but I wanted to get started on planning and sharing this with all of you so that this year can be bigger and better than last year!
Last year--and already this year--some of my friends have expressed interest in participating in Dressember. I hope this blog post will give you some more information and help you decide if this is something you want to do. I hope you will consider joining or supporting me, last year was amazing and I know this year will be even better!
What is Dressember?
The goal of Dressember is to use clothing to declare a message while working to raise support for anti-human trafficking organizations International Justice Mission and A21. Participants commit to wearing a dress each day for the month of December, demonstrating the inherent freedom and femininity of all women.
The Dressember foundation states, "In its first year of fundraising, Dressember had 1,233 registered participants in 32 countries across 6 continents who collectively raised over $165,000. One hundred percent of the funds raised in 2013 went directly to International Justice Mission. In 2014, participation doubled, and the funds raised nearly tripled, at over $465,000 raised."
If you'd like some more information about Dressember, you can check out the FAQ page.
How can I help?
Last year I participated in Dressember by myself. This year, I've created a team that I hope you'll join if you decide to participate! The team is called World Changers, and is open to anyone, women and men.
And speaking of men, here's a note for the guys: If you want to join the team and be a voice for women, consider a creative way you can participate. You can wear a bow tie each day, share a dress photo each day on social media, or if you're creative, draw a different dress each day! It's totally up to you!
If you decide to join, go to dressember.org/participatex and create your own fundraising page. Make sure to set a goal for how much money you would like to raise. When you’re done, you’ll see a green box near the top right of your fundraising page that says “Create or Join a Team.” Find the team name “World Changers” in the drop-down list and click “Join Team.” After you join the World Changers team, I will add your personal goal into the overall team goal.
When things get going, make sure to tag your posts with #TheWorldChangersTeam so we can see what everyone is doing throughout the month.
What if I don't want to participate?
That is totally fine! I know wearing dresses for 31 days during the winter isn't for everyone, so no judgement here! You can still help out in other ways, though.
Please consider donating to my fundraising campaign and ask yourself what you can give to this cause. Every dollar you invest goes to IJM and A21 (and is also tax-deductible within the U.S.), no amount is too small to give to this great work. Plus it feels really good to know that you've done something to make a difference in the world.
Next, please share my page with others you think should join the cause. You can post a link to it on Facebook, share it on Twitter, and email it directly to friends and family members. The direct link is https://support.dressemberfoundation.org/elisemance. This is a simple way to raise awareness and to spread the message that human trafficking is a very real, very wrong crime.
I'm also working on coming up with some incentives and other projects related to Dressember. If you're interested in helping me with a creative project, a collaboration, or coming up with ideas, send me an email at eliseloyola(at)gmail(dot)com.
I'm so excited for Dressember and can't wait to see how we'll change the world together!
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