Sometimes you have to face the ugly truth; sometimes that truth is way bigger than you are. Yet, that doesn’t always mean that you can’t do anything about it. This is what the nonprofit organization, DRESSEMBER, has taught me. The ugly truth in this conversation is that human trafficking is a business, and it’s thriving in this day and age.
Dressember CEO and founder, Blythe Hill created DRESSEMBER with the mission statement that reads: “Dressember is a collaborative movement leveraging fashion and creativity to restore dignity to victims and survivors of human trafficking.” Participants/advocates of the DRESSEMBER challenge wear a dress or tie, to serve as a conversation starter, all 31 days of December to educate their community and platforms about human trafficking. Through a campaign page, supporters of DRESSEMBER can donate and help victims and survivors of human trafficking find their freedom. As of the past year, Dressember has raised $10 million dollars to resource vital anti-trafficking work worldwide.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
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Donate directly to a campaign page: here’s one for reference, https://dressember2020.funraise.org/fundraiser/makayla-fox (;
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Shop Dressember marketplace: This year Dressember is collaborating with ethical fashion brands on campaign merchandise. There’s an array of dresses, for women and children, Dressember merch, stickers, thank you cards, and, of course, a Dressember mask. Each purchase from the Dressember marketplace will donate a portion to Dressember.
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Join the conversation & educate yourself: A large issue with human trafficking is that the reality is rarely shared and people find that the issue is not large enough for it to affect them. The truth is, human trafficking is present in almost every city around the world. Over 40 million people are being trafficked today, more than at any other point in history. Human trafficking affects us all and supporting Dressember is one of the ways we can do our part to end it.
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Participate in the Dressember challenge: 2020 Dressember campaign pages are live! It’s super easy to set up and there’s an array of ideas on the Dressember website to help create ideas on how to fundraise with the fundraising toolkit. One of the most common responses I receive when asking someone if they’re interested in participating in Dressember is that they don’t have enough dresses to get through 31 days. Here are some ways to avoid that problem: share dresses with friends, rewear your dresses, thrift dresses, and/or treat yourself to shopping ethical brands and/or small businesses.
The statistics and realities of human trafficking are way too often overlooked and I believe that through Dressember, a dress can change the world. Join me in the fight to end human trafficking.
Helpful links:
https://dressember2020.funraise.org/fundraiser/makayla-fox (help me reach my goal of $3000)
https://dressember2020.funraise.org/