This year, Awin and ShareASale began a journey to commit to making an impact locally and globally through several charitable initiatives. Across our North American offices, we partnered with Sharp Dressed Man and Breakthrough Women's Essential Needs Boutique to empower fellow members of our community to acquire the skills and resources needed to become gainfully employed by helping them get dressed to find success in the workforce.
Sharp Dressed Man, located in Baltimore, was founded by a partnership between the Baltimore Fashion Alliance and the Living Classrooms Foundation in 2011 to support men reentering the workforce. As such, they established an independent clothing boutique in downtown Baltimore that equips men ready for work with a one-on-one styling experience resulting in a hand-selected suits and accessories to wear to interviews, among other occasions. Often an appropriate, business-professional outfit can be the last obstacle standing between men who have completed work training and employment. Sharp Dressed Man closes the gap between being prepared with skills for a new job and "looking the part" to get in the door for an interview.
Our Awin Baltimore team was thrilled to be on hand at their boutique this holiday season, greeting customers at the door, helping with measurements to determine size, locating the perfect suit and accompaniments... even manning the dressing rooms to help each customer put their outfit together and confirm just how dapper they looked! Once each individual was finished with their styling experience, our team members were there to help package up their new outfits and ensure each received a “goodie bag” of shaving cream, razors, and more.
"For me, the best part was every person there was extremely grateful to be getting 'suited up.' Everyone was smiling and dancing, it was a really great time and the appreciation was evident. It felt good to know we did such good." Sahil Ranjhan, Awin US
Breakthrough Women's Essential Needs Boutique is run by Chicago's Breakthrough organization, which was founded in 1992. Since then, Breakthrough has begun several successful community programs surrounding education & youth development, workforce development, housing, health & wellness, violence prevention and spiritual transformation. Their Women’s Essential Needs Boutique empowers homeless and low-income individuals looking to achieve training, clothing, and learn new skills.
Our Chicago colleagues at ShareASale were overjoyed to spend the day volunteering at the facility this December, helping receive endless donations of jewelry, shoes, handbags, clothing, bedding and kitchen items, which they then organized by season and distributed to the guests the boutique supports. Furthermore, several team members worked in the boutique itself, assisting the women to get dressed for success.
"Volunteering with Breakthrough gave me a chance to connect with my colleagues outside of our office walls and give back to members of our local community. As a part of a large corporation, it's great to have the support of the entire organization to help those who are often overlooked." Alicia Pugh, ShareASale
Globally, our offices took part in initiatives to make our planet cleaner and greener than ever before - going completely plastic-free, participating in and promoting Fridays for Future with a global day of leave, contributing to saving textile resources by facilitating a spring clothing donation, and using Ecosia, a search engine that uses ad revenue from searches to plant trees where they are needed the most. Additionally, Awin Global made a €10,000 donation to Earth Day's ‘Canopy Project' this holiday season, which will equate to the planting of 10,000 trees. While we’re aware these aren't quick fixes to bettering our planet, we believe that every small gesture helps and are proud to contribute.
As 2020 comes to a close, we’d like to extend our gratitude to our clients, partners and friends for another successful year. We look forward to a continued prosperous partnership in 2020 and helping to make a difference locally and around the globe.
Wishing you a very happy holidays from everyone at Awin and ShareASale!
