The
team at View Point Handmade Gallery will be donning school dresses to
send girls in Sierra Leone, West Africa to school.
For
the month of October View Point Handmade Gallery staff will serve
customers, meet artists and attend openings in school uniform. Their
mission is to raise $2000 which will give girls in Sierra Leone, West
Africa access to education through scholarships, school
rehabilitation projects and access to sanitary pads.
Inspired
by the quirky nature of the challenge and the cause behind it Jess
Cola, the owner and manger at View Point, said “the gallery is
always keen to support good organizations that are engaging people in
a fun and unique way. We all appreciate the work that One Girl is
doing in Africa, and that they are inspiring people to do more.”
View Point is also putting the challenge out there to other people
in Bendigo – “Join our team, pick your own challenge and Do It in
a Dress!”
Do
it in a Dress is
global movement where individuals and teams sign up to wear a school
dress, so that girls in Africa can go to school.
In 2011, it’s inaugural year, 77 people from six countries wore a
school dress, so that girls in Sierra Leone could wear one too. In 30
days, participants raised an incredible $43,000, which will sent 100
girls in Sierra Leone to school, and provided access to sanitary pads
to 147 women. “60 million young girls around the world are not
getting an education,” explains Jess Cola. “We can change that by
having some fun in a school dress.”
In
Sierra Leone, only 1 in 6 girls has the chance to attend high school,
and almost one third of the girls born there will be married and
pregnant before their 15th
birthday. However, when a girl is educated, everything changes. She
will marry later and have a smaller, healthier family. For every year
she stays in school, she increases her income by 10% and invests 90%
of that in her family. “Educating a girl improves the local economy
more than any other type of investment.” says Jess.
Last
year, Do it in a dress
participants wore
dresses to run half marathons, perform on the streets, bungee jump
and surf the waves. Others simply wore their school dresses for an
entire week. View Point plan to serve customers for the month of
October in school attire, but they are encouraging others to
participate in whatever way they can, Jess says “It doesn’t
matter what activity you do, just as long as you do it in a school
dress.”
Do
it in a dress participants
develop their own challenges, publicise them and collect donations by
creating a personalised page at doitinadress.com. The Do
it in a dress campaign
will officially run for them month of October, with people taking
part all over the world, including USA, Canada, UK, Australia, Saudi
Arabia, Germany, Italy and more! “It’s a really fun way to raise
money to give a girl the opportunity to go to school. I would
challenge everyone to give it a go! Men AND women can put on a school
dress, raise $240 and send a girl in Africa to school, it’s THAT
easy. And when you educate a girl, she can change her world” Jess
says.
If
you’d like to support Jess and the View Point team just head to
http://doitinadress.com/jessVPHG
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| The boss lady serving customers on the 1st day of the challenge |
