What is dressember?
Dressember is an annual style challenge that raises awareness and funds for survivors and victims of human trafficking. People worldwide pledge to wear a dress or a tie throughout the month of December to raise awareness about human trafficking. When someone asks about why you’re dressed up or if you are given a compliment, the opportunity to start the conversation about how you are raising money to put an end to human trafficking opens up. Dressember was started by Blythe Hill when she combined a love for fashion with an intense desire to end human trafficking. She began participating in this annual challenge, leading to Dressember becoming a globally large non-profit that has raised millions for the victims and survivors of human trafficking.
How to get involved
Getting involved in Dressember is an easy process. All you do is sign up for fundraising and create a page to do so. You can fundraise individually, join a team, or create your own team to raise awareness and funds. Doing the challenge by yourself is a new experience that you can challenge yourself with, and doing it with a team can lead to group learning experiences and working together for a good cause.
Ways to support
If you do not want to fundraise yourself, there are still many opportunities to support the cause during the month of December. This could be by educating yourself on the issue of human trafficking. Education and learning are great ways to start advocating and growing a passion to help a cause. Dressember has a podcast with numerous episodes that can expand your knowledge of human trafficking. The podcast is called ‘Things Survivors Wish You Knew’ and features conversations with survivors of human trafficking. This podcast gives a different understanding of human trafficking survivors and how to approach the situation through advocacy.
Another way to support is through donating money. If you do not want to raise money yourself there are always ways to donate money to the company and help human trafficking victims and survivors. Making the decision to give your money to this cause is a great thing to do for the month of December.
the impact of dressember
Dressember has raised millions of dollars for the victims and survivors of human trafficking since the challenge began in 2009. Dressember partners with numerous companies that work with those affected by human trafficking. They continuously advocate for those affected by human trafficking and educate others on the damage of that industry. While they do raise money year-round, the style challenge is what gets the most attention and draws numerous people to participate and raise awareness.
The Dressember website includes a description of the 4 key pillars of their programming, which include: advocacy, prevention, intervention, and survivor empowerment. These four pillars show how Dressember gets involved and changes the lives of victims of human trafficking. Overall, the Dressember organization makes a large impact annually through their advocacy and encourages many to join to continue making a difference.
To learn more, donate, or fundraise, go to: https://www.dressember.org/