Fashion forward -- Teens help women searching for work
A group of girls at OKC-New Hope is trying to boost the confidence of disadvantaged women by providing them with makeovers and makeup-filled kits. They hope the gifts especially help women in their job-hunting efforts.
Yukon students Anna Langert, a ninth-grader, and Payton Coats, who is in the eighth grade, lead a group called Makeup for Missies at their church in far northwest Oklahoma City.
The teens got the idea for the project when they were doing volunteer work at Skyline Urban Ministry’s Food Resource Center during Spring Break. A client wanted to select some makeup but knew she needed her money for food, Payton said.
"Makeup’s my passion," said Payton. "I barely ever leave the house without a little makeup on."
The group has received donations for the project from church members. New Hope’s youth group also sells T-shirts imprinted with the Makeup for Missies logo.
The money raised is used to fill each vanity bag with a hairbrush, toothbrush and paste, eye shadow, powder, deodorant, blush, lip gloss or lipstick, makeup wipes, hair ties, bobby pins, eyeliner, and mascara. Each recipient also gets to pick out two more items of her choice.
Members of the group plan to do makeovers for women, too.
About seven girls have been participating in the mission so far, said Associate Pastor Cali Depue Eck. The girls’ goal is to live out New Hope’s mission statement: "Building loving relationships with God and others through the hope that is in Jesus Christ."
The girls are working to make connections with nonprofits such as United Methodist-related Skyline that may help them link up with women who need the makeup, Rev. Eck said.
So far, the girls have helped over a dozen women, Payton said.
Anna said the group hopes the makeup will give women the confidence to "go and get a job to get out of the bad situation they’re in."
For more information, go to www.makeupformissies.com or send an email to makeupformissies16@gmail.com
Payton Coats, left, and Anna Langert show makeup items that will be given to low-income women in their efforts to find jobs.
Photo by Chris Schutz