Colac Salvos’ wardrobe project keeping students looking sharp
Take a peek inside Colac Salvos Community Centre, and you will find a room transformed into a dazzling array of shimmering fabrics, sparkly dresses, and stylish suits. The vibrant space buzzes with excitement as young people browse the racks, eager to shine at their next formal event. Their enthusiasm, as Salvos Online journalist LERISSE SMITH discovered, forms part of a free new innovative wardrobe project.
Looking sharp and stylish is crucial for any young person heading out to a formal do. But often, they face the frustrating dilemma of whether they can afford to buy or rent a great outfit for their special occasion.
However, an exciting new wardrobe project is taking away all the anxieties.
The free formal wear rental scheme ‘Otway Wardrobe’, run at Colac Salvos Community Centre, is transforming how young people aged 12 to 18 experience special events.
“It has been a phenomenal success,” said Josiah Van Niekerk, Community Engagement Coordinator, and head of Business Development of the Corps. “It has turned into a monster of a program, which is great. We are excited to ensure every student can look their best without the cost!
“The cost of formal wear can be a barrier to opportunity, especially for young people from underprivileged backgrounds. So, Otway Wardrobe has ensured special moments for young people such as formals, interviews nand special events, shouldn’t be overshadowed by the financial strain of finding the perfect outfit.”
Since it began a few months ago, the wardrobe rental program has grown significantly. The community initiative was the brainchild of Dayna Watt, Year 12 Co-ordinator at Colac Secondary College.
The young teacher, known for being passionate about worthwhile causes and having a big heart for the community, Dayna and her students brainstormed ideas on how to recycle while supporting the local community. They came up with this idea, and community work features significantly in Colac Secondary College’s curriculum.
“It’s amazing for the local community,” Josiah said. “And it’s amazing for community groups like us.”
Colac Salvos and the students spoke with people who had ties to hairdressers, beauticians, and retailers to help get the project established. Colac Salvos then offered the space to house the initiative.
“The Year 12 students from Colac Secondary College and their wonderful teachers have helped to set the space up,” Josiah said. “Not only that, but they had the original idea to create this initiative, which just shows the power of community helping community.”
The Colac college students have been actively involved during the past few months, attending the centre at least once a week to go through the racks, collect clothes from the Salvos and Vinnies thrift shops and bring them down to the space, hang clothes on racks, and organise trolleys.
Scan your eyes across the wardrobe room, and you will find formal dresses, suits, ties, shoes, and accessories among the many items to appease even the fussiest of tastes.
Students from Colac Secondary College recently held a formal event, for which Otway Wardrobe played a major role in hiring their special outfits.
Donations, both material and financial, have come from many sectors of the local community, including schools and families. The Salvos currently cover dry cleaning costs but hope to find a business partner in the future who can donate their services. The local Salvos thrift shop has greatly contributed to the project, as has Vinnies, located just three doors down from the centre.
“They have been phenomenal,” Josiah said. “Their support has helped unify the community to be even more open to embrace this initiative.”
Also supporting the initiative has been local media who approached Josiah for interviews, including ABC Ballarat live. His team have engaged with local business partners, too, including a local franchised accounting firm, Findex, who have asked how they can support the project.
“It has been one of those great things that it’s just really picked up its own local media coverage and picked up its own community engagement,” Josiah explained. “It has been the biggest thing of our program because our heart in wanting to approach working with our communities has been to stimulate the community to create programs to then serve the community that they are a part of, and then to be a part of maintaining them and innovating them to best fit their community's needs.
“It should not be The Salvation Army or the Australian Government or council that should be doing it. It should be us who are the ones that are in the community. So, the Otway Wardrobe has been a really cool testimonial of that kind of initiative.”
Looking to the future, the Salvos team will be working on creating an inventory with the Colac Secondary School students, including how to manage the ins and outs of the wardrobe rental items and dry-cleaning. Their aim is for students to be able grasp aspects involved with running a business.
“Coming down to a community centre might be glamorous because you’re helping the poor and the needy,” Josiah remarked. “But there’s this vast beast of organisational structure that’s behind the scenes you can't see. So, it's great for them to be able to see the guts of all that.”
The Salvos also have another six organisations, including some employment agencies and a disability provider, that are eager to use Otway Wardrobe for job interviews and meetings. Even more businesses have expressed a keen interest in joining the project.
Additionally, local organisations are looking at helping to create a wardrobe for people who do not wear items all the time, such as maternal and ski wear, which people may only wear for a few months or a week. It would be integrated with Otway Wardrobe.
With the project’s success continuing at a rapid rate, the next step for the Salvos team is to stimulate the community to potentially donate space for Otway Wardrobe, as they are quickly running out of space. If their local thrift store that they own became available for some reason, they would move into that space, too.
“Our future ahead is exciting,” Josiah remarked. “We are entering graduation season, and we will be putting all our hairdressers, beauticians, stylists and students to the test to see what this initiative is capable of, and where we will be growing it next year, working together for a more dignified future for all peoples throughout the Colac Region.”
