GREENVILLE, S.C.—The Junior League of Greenville, Inc.’s (JLG) third annual Little Black Dress Initiative (LBDI) earned over $25,000 in a single week in an effort to raise awareness and funds for women’s economic mobility and the fight against human trafficking in the Upstate.

“The Junior League of Greenville is so appreciative to our members, their friends and family and the Greenville community for supporting our third annual Little Black Dress week,” said Sarah Lynne Howie, JLG President. “In addition to raising over $6,500 more than we did in 2018, we sparked countless conversations about who the Junior League of Greenville supports and what membership means to the nearly 1200 Junior League volunteers in our community.”

About 30 JLG members donned their little black dresses, accepting donations ranging from $5 to $575. The JLG’s LBDI is a social media-driven fundraising campaign that leverages the iconic little black dress as a symbol of socio-economic limitations for women in Greenville, bringing awareness to the effects poverty can have on women in our community.

“I am proud of our hard-working members who spread our message about our new focus areas–economic mobility and human trafficking,” said Katie Williams, LBDI Chair. “Conversations were  parked surrounding these topics, as well as how the JLG is working to combat these issues in our community. Our members’ dedication to these causes and this message was passion-fueled and it  hows in our total amount raised as well as how much discussion was had across our state, and even our country and internationally.”

Through this event, the JLG aims to share its mission of promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women and improving the community through the effective action and leadership of  rained volunteers along with getting the community involved in supporting the organization and its causes.