Care for the Cause Fashion Show for Chhoti Si Asha

 

Care for the Cause organized a fashion show with proceeds supporting impoverished women and children in India.

Care for the Cause, a volunteer organization that strives to alleviate human suffering by raising awareness on social issues, held a fashion show to benefit the Indian nonprofit Chhoti Si Asha (whom rHope also supports). The event took place at AnQi in Costa Mesa.

Models worked the runway! DJ Amit Kotecha rocked the show. We enjoyed beautiful Indian fashion from Prathaa and Khushy Designs. A portion of proceeds benefit Chhoti Si Asha. Check out the photos taken by Mad Guru below.

Event planner, Ajita Chopra brought all of this together with her passionate and energetic volunteers. The entire Care for the Cause team were wonderful and we loved meeting folks like Punita, who in addition to being a Founder of Care for the Cause, works as a nurse and uses her skills to benefit people around the world.

The event benefited Chhoti Si Asha, a volunteer driven nonprofit which builds sustainable livelihoods for underprivileged women & youth in Chandigarh, India. Chhoti Si Asha runs two main programs, The Janta Colony Library, an educational program and library and the Stitch-a-Living livelihood program for women.

rHope, based in the US, empowers artisan groups including Chhoti Si Asha by retooling products and giving women opportunities to participate in trade. rHope sold handmade wallets and clutches made by the women of Chhoti Si Asha at the event with proceeds going to continued support of their Stitch a Living program.

Kristeen Singh (Founder of rHope) and Krishna Dahya (Indicorps Fellow) presented on Chhoti Si Asha. They shared the story of Manju one of the women in the program. She lives in a slum, is uneducated, but able to stitch very well. Working allows her to support her 3 sons and provide them with a chance at a better future. They also spoke about 3rd grader Shubham, who is supported by the library project created by Divya Sooryakumar (Indicore Fellow) of Chhoti si Asha. When Divya met him, he did not know his ABCs or how to count. Thanks to the Library and Educational Center, Shubham learned to counting, addition, subtraction as well as both the the Hindi and English alphabet.

Lastly, a message from Liza Chawla founder of Chhoti Si Asha “Thanks for putting in so much trust in Chhoti Si Asha. The love and trust from people and organizations like Care for the Cause is what keeps us motivated and inspires us to do more. A bow and hugs to the entire team who contributed in putting this show together. Thank you from our entire team.”

New Fair Trade LA bags made by rHope

We here at rHope are so happy to have worked with Fair Trade LA to create customized, stylish  jute bags for them. Partnering with Fair Trade LA was synergistic since we are both about empowering artisans and consumers to purchase products made using fair trade practices.

These bags are double sided.  One side has the Fair Trade LA logo and the back has the message “Choose Fair Trade LA Join the Movement”.  The bags are eco-friendly, vegan and sustainable. The bags are made from an organic fiber that is natural and biodegradable.

You can pick up one of these snazzy functional bags at the Fair Trade LA Booth at the Green Festival at the Convention Center Sept 12-14, 2014.

Here you can see the women from our partner organization Chhoti Si Asha making the bags. They had a great time and were happy to earn money to support their families. The  women we work with are impoverished and live in slums in India. Most are uneducated and have less access to paid opportunities. Orders and purchases like these, help the women and their families raise their standard of living in a holistic way through skill training, income generation, financial management, access to health care, and education for them and their families.

Thanks to Fair Trade LA for this order. We hope all of us together, can empower women, enrich the lives of those struggling in poverty and offer hope.  We look forward to seeing you this weekend at the Fair Trade LA booth at the Green Festival!