Dress for Success Organizes Contest to Support Disadvantaged Women

A unique contest was recently held between the United States Senate and the House of Representatives. The challenge required the participants to collect the maximum amount of clothing to benefit disadvantaged women in Washington DC through an international nonprofit,Dress for Success.

This Congressional Challenge was sponsored by FedEx, which has been a corporate sponsor of Dress for Success since 2006. The competition embodied the spirit of giving—that has made the Dress for Success brand highly successful.

Dress for Success is an international nonprofit organization that has been working to support disadvantaged women since its inception in New York City in 1997. It provides services that are designed to help women find jobs and remain employed.

Dress for Success provides one professional suit to a woman when she has to present herself for a job interview. She can come back for a second suit or separates when she is successful in finding permanent employment.

The unique mission of Dress for Success is to promote the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of career support and various career development tools to help women succeed in work and in personal life.

Dress for Success Worldwide is dedicated to improving the lives of women located in 110 cities across 12 countries. The organization's professional clothing, employment retention programs and career support to its clients symbolizes its faith in a woman's ability to be self-sufficient and successful in her career.

This year's title was eventually won by the House of Representatives which managed to collect 613 items. The Senate came a close second with a collection of 581 pieces of clothing and accessories. The current challenge brings the total number of items collected through the six-year old partnership between FedEx and Dress for Success to more than 4,600 items.

Photo Credit: Marinela