Autumn crept in on us: the crisp morning air, the scent of wood stoves, and PREPARES just receiving our October donation from one of our stellar partners, Project Beauty Share. What exactly is Project Beauty Share, and how does it relate to PREPARES?

Project Beauty Share provides personal hygiene, cosmetics, and beauty products to nonprofit organizations like PREPARES who serve women and families overcoming unexpected crises or difficult circumstances in their lives. The goal is to help restore hope and dignity in these women’s lives. “Women who are poverty-stricken or women-in-transition cannot afford these luxury items,” said Julie Farley, founder of Project Beauty Share. “A lot of what we do is about health and hygiene, but it’s really about dignity.”

A makeup artist for more than 30 years in Spokane, Julie knows the value good hygiene and makeup can have on a woman’s self-esteem. Motivated by the need she saw in her community, Julie founded Project Beauty Share, and PREPARES has been an active partner in recent years, ensuring women in Julie’s community and in ours find their lost self esteem and restore their ability to shine.

Volunteer women from PREPARES, students from LaSalle Catholic High School, doctor interns, and PREPARES staff have all pooled their efforts to create bags of beauty, hygiene and pampering products to deliver to those who would otherwise go without. “We had more than 400 bags of toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner and detergent to share with women who often don’t have the daily luxuries that most of us take for granted. Some women, it’s been said, are embarrassed to be in public because they don’t have the detergent to wash their clothes and certainly can’t afford beauty products!”

Volunteers were encouraged to see such a generous donation and even people who have just learned about Project Beauty Share wanted to be of service, offering hand-decorated fabric bags to deliver the products in. Surely God’s goodness has shined a light on PREPARES by offering an extraordinary partner like Project Beauty Share and our incredible and noteworthy volunteers.