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Every year since 2005, The Children’s Museum has recognized incredible youth who have impacted their communities with extraordinary service. The Power of Children Awards, inspired by the Power of Children: Making a Difference exhibit, awards these winners with a partial university scholarship to IUPUI, UIndy, or Butler University along with a $2,000 grant to continue their philanthropic projects.
We’re highlighting each winner with a further look into the service projects they’ve built to transform their community. Today’s winner is Julia Robinson, who held a fashion show for a local homeless shelter.
Name: Julia Robinson
Grade: 7
City: Indianapolis, IN
Project: “Love Yourself” Fashion Show
Julia sees the residents of Wheeler Mission Women and Children’s shelter every day. From the looks on their faces, she knew they could use a confidence boost. In an effort to make the women of the shelter feel better, Julia used the resources around her to put on a fashion show, using the residents as models, and raised money, clothing, and accessories for the shelter. In her application essay she described the show:
Each of the models received a nice outfit, hairstyle, makeover, and photoshoot. I wanted the women to understand they are beautiful, even if right now they are in a bad situation.
The Love Yourself Fashion Show took six months to plan and, with makeovers and photoshoot, four hours to execute. These numbers include 15 classmate volunteers and countless volunteer hours from people Julia found who just wanted to help.
“Helping women feel beautiful is what brings me joy,” said Char Ellison, volunteer makeup and hair artist for the show.
Julia not only gave the women at the shelter more confidence, but the confidence enough to pursue job interviews and next steps to building a better life. Additionally, she was determined to change the perception her classmates had of the homeless.
I also wanted my friends at school to see that people in shelters are not scary; they are people just like us who deserve love and attention...After the fashion show, everyone at school was talking about how much fun they had and asked when we were going to do it again.
Julia will use her award to further build a foundation for future fashion shows just like the one for Wheeler Mission. The funds will allow her to collect, repair, and store clothing for future shows, recruit more professional help, and manage event costs.
Congratulations, Julia. And thank you for continuing to give women the opportunity to feel good and thrive.
