I recently had the pleasure of attending Fashion for Change’s Holiday Showcase, a fundraiser hosted at University of Waterloo that featured a variety of events and talented acts. Fashion for Change was serving up some much-needed holiday cheer, as guests could get a polaroid with Santa, snack on festive treats and enjoy a variety of performances, from student dance troops to musical acts like the Hawkapellas.
Fashion for Change is known for their partnerships with other student organizations within the community. They are a joint student-run organization between the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University that is focused on promoting fashion and artistic expression through a variety of different creative avenues. They host the largest annual student-run charity fashion show in the Tri-City area, and have raised over $97, 000 for WE Charity’s Adopt a Village Campaign. All proceeds go towards supporting their adopted village in Moyamba, Sierra Leone where they assist in the rebuilding of communities, setting up classrooms, and provide resources to support a higher quality of education.
This year at their Holiday Showcase there was a pop-up thrift shop in partnership with UW Youth Horizons, another notable club on campus. This club aims to raise awareness for and fundraise to alleviate pressures surrounding socio-economic issues that youth are facing, with poverty being their focus this year. UW Youth Horizons collected clothing donations in the days leading up to the Holiday Showcase from students and all items were sold for $5 or less, with all the proceeds being added to their contribution to the WE Charity at the end of the year. The pop-up thrift shop is a great initiative for students to clean out their closets, acquire some new and affordable pieces to add to their wardrobe, and, most importantly, help others!
Fashion for Change has their Theme Release Party, taking place in the Bomber Shelter Pub at UW, in late January, where they will find out the theme of their main event, which is an annual charity fashion show coming up in March! The charity fashion show is what their team works towards all year, so be sure to keep an eye out on campus for these amazing events!
Access to a quality education and helping others is very important to we students at Laurier and Waterloo. If you would like to get involved and donate a small fee, the Fashion for Change organization has set up an online donation fund, which can be found here.
Let the spirit of giving guide you this season! Happy holidays Golden Hawks and Warriors!