GoodHeart | Lauren Gray giving back through thrifting
Published:Saturday | October 21, 2023 | 12:08 AMShanel Lemmie/Staff Reporter
For Lauren Gray, empathy has always been her superpower. While in her earlier years she was unsure how this ability would help her in life, these days she is using it to fuel her foundation, Women for Women Jamaica, through the Thrift and Give store.
Gray said while pursuing her high school diploma, in upstate New York, she was inspired by the strong female presence that her school offered.
“I attended Emma Willard School for girls in upstate New York in 2014 to get my high school diploma and that’s really where my passion for helping women and girls kind of started out,” she told GoodHeart. “Being at an all-girls school where they empower you to realise that no matter your gender or how many resources you do or do not have, you are able to make a difference as a female and as a woman in and outside the classroom. That environment of just woman empowerment where every single role essentially at the school was filled by a woman, that was inspiring to me especially living in a third-world country like Jamaica where sometimes women are not given as many opportunities as we should to be able to hold high, strong positions.”
When Gray returned home in 2022, holding close her mother’s notion that ‘the difference between uptown and downtown is one word and it’s opportunity’, she began the search for her own cause to support.
Recalling the night the idea struck her she said, “I was sitting at the dining table one night with my mom and my brother. And I was sharing with them my ideas about wanting to have personal and professional workshops for women and girls, whether they lived in underserved communities or things like that. Just girls who wanted more for themselves and didn’t know how.”
Gray said she began reaching out to corporate entities with hopes of striking up a partnership. After receiving no compelling answers her brother began his crusade to convince her. “I was like how am I gonna do these workshops, how am I gonna help women and make a difference and it was my brother who was the one that said, ‘but Lauren you love thrifting. Thrifting is something you used to do every weekend when you were away. And I was like yeah, but Jamaica is not gonna be receptive to thrifting because people want things that are new. They’re probably not gonna be interested in buying something that somebody else owned,” she said marvelling at the almost-missed opportunity.
ENCOURAGEMENT
Recalling the many prompts she got from her brother, Gray said after much prompting and encouragement from her brother, she started the Thrift and Give store under her Women for Women Foundation.
Launching last December with a trilogy of pop-up shops at their location on Shortwood Road, she said the support was overwhelming.
“So many people came, it just surpassed my expectations, even financially. People had donated over 500 items of clothing in those three weeks alone and we raised over $300,000 and that was just in the space of three days.”
She continued, “After that I was kind of like, oh my God, this thing can actually be something that can help a lot of people and that when I decided to open the permanent space which opened in February this year.”
Currently Gray said while they focus on supporting individuals particularly, Women for Women has also partnered with the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation for the Earn as you Learn project.
“Basically it’s a project they’ve had going on for years now where their aim is training adolescent mothers at three of the centres in hair braiding, nail technology and recently in July they extended the workshop to include basic make-up and skin care,” she explained.
Though she has plans to leave Jamaica’s shores once again to pursue her master’s degree she said her outreach in Jamaica will never cease.
“I’ve lived a few places and experienced a few lifestyles and cultures but for some reason my heartstrings really are in Jamaica because I always believe and I do believe that there is so much potential here for growth. I love my home, I love my people and giving back is just something I’ve always been passionate about and I’m grateful that no matter where life takes me I will always have this foundation that will be a blessing to people.”
To donate or learn more about the Women for Women Jamaica foundation and Thrift and Give store, email women4womenja@gmail.com, call 876-839-8159 or visit @women4womenja on Instagram. Have a good story you’d like to share? Email us at goodheart@gleanerjm.com.