Dressember 2019–My Daily Journey thru December in a Dress
This year, beginning December 1st through December 31st, I have chosen to be an Advocate for Dressember, and I will be blogging about my experience daily. I hope you will join me as I not only share my experiences but also stories and facts about Dressember’s activities with organizations in the USA, Canada, and around the world.
What is “Dressember”?
“Dressember” is a non-profit organization that is made up of international advocates who volunteer to wear a dress everyday in December to spread awareness of human trafficking and modern slavery. They also use creativity to raise funds to fight against the abuse of slavery and to help end human trafficking.
Why a Dress?
The dress is a symbol of freedom, hope and dignity that advocates strive to bring to the victims of abuse. Wearing a dress daily in December can serve as a conversation starter. Dressember has buttons that say ” Ask Me About My Dress” and when someone does ask, it opens up an opportunity to share about the movement.
Dressember’s motto is: “The dress is our uniform, the flag of our movement. Dressember is an opportunity to reclaim and re-appropriate the dress as a symbol of freedom and power; a flag for the inherent dignity of all people.”
Impact:
Dressember partners with 15 other leading organizations for the prevention, rescue and aftercare of human trafficking and slavery in the USA and Internationally. 85% of all funds Dressember receives are distributed to these partner organizations: IJM–A21–McMahon Ryan–BEST–Love146–Pathfinders–Saving Innocence–CAST–RESTORE–Youth Spark–Olive Crest–THORN–Anti-Slavery–The Freedom Story–Truckers Against Trafficking.
Did You Know?
- Did you know that there are about 40 Million People in human trafficking around the world?
- Did you know that 1 out of every 4 of those 40 million people is a child?
- Did you know that human trafficking generates about $150 Billion dollars a year?
These figures are shocking and that is why I chose to be an Advocate to spread awareness and help raise the funds needed to fight against this evil. I hope you will do the same and together we can make a difference and set people free to live lives of dignity as they should.
Fundraising
Advocates are encouraged to set up their own creative ways of fundraising campaigns. My Goal is to raise $350.00.
Since I am a crafter, I have chosen to make Origami Dress Ornaments. I will be giving a free Dress Ornament to each person that makes a $5.00 Donation to my Dressember Fundraiser by December 15th at: https://www.dressember2019.org/fundraiser/leona-atkinson
Thank You.
Leona J. Atkinson