Ghazal Shaloodegi got here to Canada a number of years in the past to review at UBC-Okanagan.
The Kelowna, B.C., girl and single mother mentioned beginning a brand new life in another country may be powerful.
“It’s not only a language barrier but it’s also a culture barrier,” Shaloodegi mentioned. “Also, it’s about the self esteem because you’re completely new.”
Nonetheless, the 37-year-old is overcoming these challenges due to a non-profit group known as Costume for Success.
“They are very welcoming,” Shaloodegi mentioned. “They gave me that self confidence, that self-esteem.”
Costume for Success has been working worldwide for nearly three a long time however solely six years in Kelowna.
“We are fairly young in the Kelowna landscape,” mentioned Lori Stevenson, Costume for Success Kelowna govt director.
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The group helps girls, corresponding to single mothers or newcomers, scale back limitations to employment.
“We serve women from just under 18 years old to over 60,” Stevenson mentioned. “All walks of life, all educational levels and all stages in their career because we never know when life circumstances are going to throw a curveball at us or things are going to change.”
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Costume for Success affords quite a lot of providers to assist girls with their employment objectives together with entry to enterprise apparel, private {and professional} growth packages in addition to mentorship workshops and profession providers corresponding to assist with resumes and job interviews.
5:15Empowering girls via garments
In keeping with the group, demand for its providers has grown considerably in recent times.
In reality, within the final three years alone, the variety of shoppers searching for help has tripled.
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“I think the cost of living. We are looking at unprecedented housing costs and costs of living,” Stevenson mentioned. “We have a lot of new arrivals to the country, we had the war with Ukraine that brought a lot of people in, we have the Middle East.”
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The group is presently gearing up for one in every of its most important fundraising campaigns of the yr.
Known as ‘Your Hour, Her Power, the campaign runs all of March and coincides with International Women’s Day.
“We call on the general public to donate one hour of their salary or any amount they are comfortable with to help a woman in our community reach her employment and financial goals,” Stevenson mentioned.
Cash donated will assist help girls like Shaloodegi, one in every of about 300 anticipated to hunt out providers in 2025.
“They give you that opportunity to hear you, to see you and to give you that self esteem that OK, you can do it,” Shaloodegi mentioned.
To get extra data or to donate, you possibly can go to the Costume for Success Web site.
The group additionally accepts gently-used enterprise apparel at its workplace at 1272 St. Paul St.
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