SEED's Women's Wardrobe Week, held at the Mitchell Shire Recovery Hub, was a massive success.
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Dedicated volunteers are at the heart of The SEED Project, allowing valuable initiatives such as Women’s Wardrobe Week to flourish.
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Women’s Wardrobe Week was designed by SEED to help women empower themselves for career success by providing them with free, quality professional and casual clothing.
The four days of free clothing access kicked off at the Mitchell Shire Recovery Hub on Monday, February 10, and went through to Thursday, February 13.
The initiative was run by SEED staff as well as volunteers who committed themselves to supporting and uplifting all of the women who walked through the doors.
Justine Dalzotto began her involvement with SEED last year when she undertook the Changemakers Program, which she said was “cathartic” and a “very emotional journey” following a couple of turbulent years and a lot of upheaval.
Ms Dalzotto offered to help with Women’s Wardrobe Week as a result of her passion for The SEED Project.
“They are incredible, those women up there,” Ms Dalzotto said.
“I just wanted to do something to pay them back for all of the help and love and support that they’ve given me.”
Also aiding in running the initiative was Kristine Medson and Kelly Lewis from Medson Legal.
“Our association with SEED means that we wanted to assist in ways other than just providing legal support,” Ms Medson said.
“Our offices volunteered to assist with helping some of the women who come through the Women’s Wardrobe.”
A variety of free casual and professional wear was on offer during Women’s Wardrobe Week.
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Women’s Wardrobe Week is a special project which is derived from SEED’s fortnightly Women’s Wardrobe.
While the wardrobeis usually open for one day every second week, Women’s Wardrobe Week allowed for those in need to access the clothes, accessories and cosmetics on offer for four consecutive days.
At the centre of Women’s Wardrobe is the desire of those at SEED to boost confidence and offer tools to foster empowerment.
Ms Dalzotto said it was a good feeling to be able to offer the service “to make people feel comfortable and not have any stigma in asking for help”.
“Everyone is welcome, and that’s what we’re here for,” Ms Dalzotto said.
Ms Medson said she enjoyed boosting people’s self-esteem.
“Because a lot of the people who want to access this need that extra lift, a little boost just to get them moving,” Ms Medson said.
Over the four days that Womens Wardrobe Week ran, 19 women accessed the wardrobe, pushing the total number of women assisted to 40.
SEED Project co-ordinator Renae Constantini said it was the support from all of the volunteers that allowed Women’s Wardrobe Week to thrive.
“It is very humbling to see both local services and volunteers come together for a common cause,” Ms Constantini said.
“We look forward to creating more events like this for the women of Seymour in the future.”
Women’s Wardrobe is set to go back to its regular fortnightly schedule from February 24. It will be open every second Monday at the Mitchell Shire Recovery Hub on Guild St from 10am to 2pm for drop-in sessions or by appointment.
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