Media Contact:
Michelle Bailey – The Links, Incorporated
202-491-4872 | michellebailey@michellebaileymedia.com
September 3, 2019 (NEW ORLEANS) – New Orleans area women who need a little extra help entering the workforce have a new group of supporters. Members of The Links, Incorporated and The Links Foundation, Incorporated donated more than 200 new handbags, journals and $5,830 to Dress for Success New Orleans as part of a meeting held last week in the Crescent City.
Meaghan Bonavita, Dress for Success New Orleans board president received the gift at the group’s closing session on Saturday, August 31, 2019. Bonavita called the group’s support a key element in helping women achieve impactful careers and financial independence. “You are women helping women, women empowering women who don’t have resources,” she said.
The Links national president, Kimberly Jeffries Leonard, Ph.D., congratulated members who donated both items and cash as a part of their meeting attendance. Leonard told members that the gift marks the beginning of a national partnership. The Links, Incorporated will soon sign a national partnership with Dress for Success and support that organization’s efforts nationwide. Cities where both The Links, Incorporated and Dress for Success have existing chapters will have the opportunity to work together. In describing Links members, Leonard cited the “beauty of their spirits,” as the reason the impromptu donation was so large. Local Links members from the New Orleans (LA), Crescent City (LA) and Pontchartrain (LA) Chapters raised $1,500. Those attending the meeting donated more than 200 purses, journals, and $2,165. The Links Foundation, Incorporated matched that donation with an additional $2,165.
The Links Foundation, Incorporated
The Links Foundation, Incorporated, the philanthropic arm of The Links, Incorporated, has made more than $25 million dollars in charitable contributions since its founding. In 2018, The Links Foundation, Incorporated named its fifth $1 million grantee – St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Other million-dollar grantees include the United Negro College Fund, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., the National Civil Rights Museum and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American Culture and History.
About The Links, Incorporated
The Links, Incorporated consists of more than 16,000 professional women of color in 288 chapters located in 41 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, and the United Kingdom. It is one of the nation’s oldest and largest volunteer service organizations of extraordinary women who are committed to enriching, sustaining and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African Americans and other persons of African ancestry. For more information, visit www.linksinc.org.
About Dress for Success
Dress for Success is a non-profit organization with the mission of empowering women to achieve economic independence by providing a network of support, professional attire and the development tools to help women thrive in work and in life. For information, visit www.dressforsuccess.org and/or watch this video.
