This year, EWIF’s National chosen charity is the incredible organisation Smart Works. Smart Works facilitates unemployed women in need to get back to work by providing high quality interview clothes and training.
Smart Works harness’ the power of clothes and confidence to allow a woman to be her best at a crucial moment in her life, giving the self-belief and the practical tools required to succeed at interview and transform her life.
How do women use Smart Works?
Women are referred to Smart Works from other organisations such as job centres, work programmes, prisons, care homes, homeless shelters and mental health charities. Half have been unsuccessful in over 20 applications. A third have been turned down from over 50 jobs. All are suffering from a lack of confidence in their own abilities.
A Royal Seal of Approval
At the beginning of this year, Smart Works announced their Royal Patron, HRH The Duchess of Sussex. The Duchess chose to support the organisation due to her passion for supporting women and her commitment to helping women across the UK. Kate Stephens, CEO of Smart Works said, “We are delighted to announce that HRH The Duchess of Sussex is our Royal Patron. At Smart Works, we are passionate about helping women be the best that they can be. It is the Smart Works vision that one day we will have enough centres nationwide to reach every woman who needs us. The support of The Duchess of Sussex will help us enormously in achieving this goal.”[1] Smart Works also boasts some wonderful patrons, outside of the Royal circle. Amongst these are Jennifer Saunders, Samantha Cameron and Betty Jackson CBE.
In July, this year, EWIF will be organising another Virtual 10k run in aid of Smart Works. Stay tuned to all our social media channels to find out how you can be involved. Whether you participated last year, or not, this is a great opportunity to get healthy and raise money for a fantastic cause, all in the name of EWIF.
To find out more about Smart Works please visit https://smartworks.org.uk &
To read about last year’s Virtual 10K, head to https://www.virtualrunneruk.com/product/november-ewif-10k-challenge/and click on ‘Race Information’.