No Makeup November!!!

TODAY IS NOVEMBER FIRST!!!!!!


Now some of you may be like: What? That is okay. No Makeup November started (as far as I can tell) as a rebellious movement of girls who were told that they could not participate in "No Shave November" (the month were guys refuse to shave their faces).

My sister posted a blog post about how No Makeup November is an opportunity celebrate how God made us: beautiful. She wrote about how makeup is a mask that girls put on in order to be accepted by this world's skewed and superficial standards.

Katie's blog: http://katieoostman.blogspot.com/


Katie's blog post caused me to think more deeply about makeup...
Makeup itself is not a bad thing... but the reason for most girls to wear makeup is heartbreaking.

God has really put on my hear girls that have been influenced by the world to the point that they think they are nothing. And treat themselves as nothing. And let others treat themselves as nothing. That is sort of how I got started on this project. God put it on my mind to look for a way to spread the word about a plague that is spreading among us.

Originally I planned to donate the money that I personally collected during NMN to "To Write Love On Her Arms". I love this charity because of their ideas and what they stand for. However, at that point I thought it would be just me. This project has snowballed into something huge and amazing. We have girls in 3 states (that I know of as of this moment) who are participating in NMN. For something that was dreamt up about 10 days ago: thats amazing. The reason we (Heather and I) chose to switch to A21 is that it is christian. Since we are asking for help from New Covenant Church, we thought that a christian charity would be something that people from the church would be comfortable giving to.

When I went to the A21 website, there was a sentence on the front page that said:
"27 Million is almost impossible to fathom... but as long as there is one victim of human trafficking, that's all the motivation we need."

That's crazy.

Now you may think: how did you get from girls respecting themselves and thinking they are beautiful to human trafficking? The answer is in the similarity. Girls who think they are worth nothing. Human trafficking is composed mostly of girls being sold into the sex trade. That's something that most of us refuse to think about. I have never come even close to being put in a situation remotely similar to what these girls go through. But I have an imagination. I can't begin to imagine the devastation. To think that your worth is a price to someone who OWNS you. And then you are sold to another who takes the last thing that is only yours to give. Nobody should have the right to do that.

That's why we wear no makeup. To save the ONE in 27 Million.

Rules:
1. Concealer is okay.
2. if you wear makeup on purpose or on accident you must donate $10
3. if your employer requires makeup, then it's okay

Guys: there is a way for you to get involved as well. You can put away the razor and participate in No Shave November and still collect money for this cause.

If you have further questions please contact me through Facebook (Kelly Oostman) or you can go the Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=285719951449835

Information about how to donate will be up on the Facebook page soon!!

Money coming from the girls in Illinois will go directly through me straight to the charity.

Also, as an idea, I am going to make a jar out of a 2-liter bottle with pictures of makeup and such on it along with NMN and "Change for Change" to collect money in. I will be carrying it around with me for the entire month, wherever I go. I encourage you to do the same.

A21: http://www.thea21campaign.org/

Thanks for participating in such a wonderful project. It means so much to me.

<3 Kelly