Enchanted Makeovers offers many ways to transform the lives of homeless women and children through beauty and creative expression

Are you familiar with the TV show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”?

In case you aren’t, here’s a quick summary: a family in need goes away for a weekend, and when they return, their run-down home has been completely transformed thanks to the hard work and dedication of a crew of skilled volunteers.

Yes, there are nearly always tears!

The heart of Enchanted Makeovers is a lot like this TV show, but they go several steps beyond. Enchanted Makeovers offers several opportunities to homeless women and children for healing and restoration.

One primary goal behind Enchanted Makeovers is to turn shelters — many of which have the stark look of a place of last resort — into true sanctuaries by making them beautiful.

The thought behind these transformations isn’t just that women and children in already desperate situations deserve to live in beautiful surroundings. It is that thoughtful, loving, meticulously decorated spaces are as soothing and inspiring to the spirit as it is to the eye.

Here’s some thoughts from Enchanted Makeovers’ website:

Enchanted Makeovers’ unique model nurtures women and children living in shelters.  Many women and children living in shelters are there because they have escaped situations of domestic violence, sex trafficking, family addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or other extremely challenging situations. 

Through various projects, programs and makeovers of the physical space, women and children are introduced to a way of life, a way of thinking that helps to shift their outlook about their lives and possibilities for the future. A path is created for creativity, self-expression and worth.

Enchanted Makeovers also supports women and female veterans through our educational/mentoring program ‘The Sacred Sewing Room.’ This program does not just set-up sewing rooms full of fabric, thread, patterns and machines. This program shares the life skill of sewing that also serves as an important coping skill and possible future job skill. 

On an on-going basis, Enchanted Makeovers’ volunteer sewing instructors hold classes in the ‘Sacred Sewing Room.’ A skill is learned and a path created for self expression and worth.

So in addition to offering transformed spaces in which these women and children can heal, women are offered the opportunity for further healing by learning to sew.

Those who can sew are then encouraged to give back through various programs that turn their creations into bits of hope for others in need. (Sound familiar?)

How You Can Help

If these seems like a goal you would like to be part of, Enchanted Makeovers would love your help!

The most abundant opportunities to help Enchanted Makeovers come if you love to sew. You can make all kinds of items for their Shelter Transformations, create Traveling Pillowcases or Capes for Kids, and more. You can even volunteer to teach sewing in a Sacred Sewing Room!

But if you’re a knitter or crocheter, you still have plenty of opportunities to help! You can create dolls for their Doll Adoption Project, for starters — handmade soft dolls are an important Enchanted Makeover project.

If you want to participate in their Shelter Transformations, Enchanted Makeovers encourages you to email them directly and offer your services. They will be able to find the best fit for your own skills and eagerness.

You’ll find the Enchanted Makeovers email address at the bottom of any page of their site.

And be sure to spread the word, if you know of other knitters and/or crafters who might want to help. The more people who know of this grand initiative who wish to help, the better the transition can be for the women and children building new lives.

This is a beautiful opportunity to help transform the lives of women and children who are literally starting over. I hope you’ll consider spreading the word and offering some help to Enchanted Makeovers!