Headlines in the Midlands
Why a USC Senior Started Her Own Non-Profit Organization to Help Women in Africa
by Brittany Moore
USC Intern
A fellow sorority sister of mine, and a senior Retailing major at the University of South Carolina, Amy Woodell, turned her passion for fashion into a charitable revolution for the women in Africa. "Clothed in Hope," is a non- profit organization Amy has created to raise money for the widows of the Ng'ombe compound in Zambia by selling t-shirts and raising money for their impoverished society, so that one day it will have the opportunity to flourish.
Upon Amy's graduation in May, she plans to give her heart and soul over to helping the women in Zambia who have lost so much, as she plans on moving there to begin her journey to better these women's lives. She will teach them sewing and business skills to alleviate the stress they face due to dealing with poverty, giving them an outlet to make money to support their families. She hopes that with the knowledge and skills she passes down to these women, they will be able to get jobs to support themselves and their families.
It was not until Amy went on a mission trip to Africa that she was enlightened on the down-trodden state of the Ng'ombe compound in Lusaka, Zambia. After she saw the turmoil that faced the compound first-hand, she immediately felt like it was her calling to use her knowledge of fashion and retailing to help these women who lost their husbands and needed to support their children.
While she is still in the United States finishing up her degree, she has already set-forth efforts to help these women by designing and selling t-shirts to raise money for this conquest. Amy wants to do more than just give these women extra money and teach them how to construct clothing, she hopes to instill in these women values to enrich their lives, as well as the ones around them, through this grassroots initiative that needs all of the help and support from people like you, that it can get.
Not only are the shirts she has designed to help raise money for these widows a great gift for the holiday season, but just by donating a small amount to this cause at, www.clothedinhope.org, you can improve someone's quality of life immensely.
