Widow’s Hope fashion design contest

Widow’s Hope helps impoverished, single women in Uganda who are struggling to provide for their families. These women have been widowed and deserted and are living with HIV/AIDS in slums. It is often that they must make the choice of leaving their children in orphanages where they will be taken care of because they are unable to supply their children’s basic needs like food, water, and shelter.

The only way these widows can support themselves is by hand-making jewelry and clothes. With the help of Heart Cry International, the women have been able to establish a business and even an eBay account where they’re able to sell their handcrafted jewelry, purses and baskets.

How can you help or get involved?

For Widow’s Hope there is a fashion design contest running from Friday, Feb. 3 until March 2.

There are four design categories including shirts, skirts, shorts and dresses. Students can choose from any category to design and create a pattern for submission. The contest gives students the opportunity to utilize creativity and to display their design skills while making a difference and helping the women of Widow’s Hope.

There is a minimum of a 2 dollar donation for each pattern entry and there is no limit of entries per person. The deadline for all pattern entries is Friday, March 2.

The pattern must include the students first and last name along with a phone number. You can submit them to the Heart Cry International Office located next to the Student Book Exchange at the intersection of Bellows and Franklin streets.

Starting March 15 there will be a two week voting period. All the patterns will be uploaded to the Heart Cry International Facebook page and students will be able to go to the page and “like” a pattern from each category. The winner from each category will be announced Friday March 23.

Please help the women of Widow’s Hope by making a submission. The winning patterns will be sent to Uganda where the widows will make them into clothing that will be modeled at the premiere fashion show in April. The official date for the show is not yet released.

For any questions regarding the Widow’s Hope design contest please contact Samantha Hegeman, a Heart Cry International intern at Hegem1sr@cmich.edu

For more information about the organization and mission statement visit http://heartcryinternational.com