Philanthropic student
UD senior Lindsay Yeager chosen as finalist for Kenneth Cole For Good Campaign
4:30 p.m., Sept. 26, 2014--University of Delaware senior Lindsay Yeager has earned a position as a finalist for the Kenneth Cole For Good Campaign.
Yeager was nominated for her volunteer work with women in Tanzania with the Dare Women’s Foundation (DWF). If selected to win, she will receive a $1,500 donation to DWF as well as a three-day service trip to Haiti with the Kenneth Cole Haiti Health Care Center.
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In January, while working as a teaching assistant for a study abroad course in Tanzania, Yeager connected with Maggie Duncan Simbeye, the founder of DWF. Simbeye’s organization works to improve the quality of life for women and children in Tanzania through a variety of projects.
“I was especially shocked when I learned that many Tanzanian women do not have access to feminine hygiene products,” said Yeager of her conversations with Simbeye. “This is a huge issue because they are using cloth and cornhusks, and therefore skip school during menstruation because they are uncomfortable and embarrassed. Many girls are missing out on a quarter of their education and 20 percent drop out altogether.”
When Yeager returned to Delaware, she immediately began working for DWF and became a board member. Yeager then won a prize in the Delaware Environmental Institute (DENIN) Environmental Film Festival and used the prize money, as well as a fellowship from the Office of Service Learning, to fund a trip for Simbeye to visit UD and give a series of guest lectures on women’s issues.
During her time with DWF, Yeager has assisted in the design of branding and logos for the organization, as well as the design for a feminine hygiene manual and feminine hygiene starter kit. This work has gotten her noticed by Kenneth Cole’s philanthropic campaign.
“I was so excited about being selected for the Kenneth Cole For Good Campaign because I knew that it would help raise awareness for what DWF is doing to help women's issues in Tanzania,” said Yeager. “I also loved the possibility of going to Haiti with Kenneth Cole to volunteer because they really support artists and photographers who are doing social change work.”
If Yeager is chosen for the award, she hopes that the donation to DWF will help with the development of these projects in the future.
She hopes to travel back to Tanzania next January with two other UD students, juniors Morgan Lehr and Allison Ruffner, in order to continue her work with the organization. This work will include the creation of a documentary on Tanzanian women’s issues, as well as the creation and distribution of additional promotional and educational materials.
“I hope to continue working with nonprofits and using photography, video, and design to spark social change,” said Yeager. “I want this to be a lifelong process for me.”
People can vote for Yeager to be selected by the Kenneth Cole For Good Campaign here.
Working with the Horn Program and VentureOn
Yeager, a member of the VentureOn program through the Horn Program in Entrepreneurship, utilized the resources available at the Horn Program’s Venture Development Center (VDC) in order to make her project a reality.
Yeager has used the printing services at the VDC, which she calls “unbeatable,” to print out brochures for the DWF. She also won the VDC’s Social Innovation Design Competition with Ruffner and Lehr. The prize money from this competition will be used in part to print 400 copies of their feminine hygiene manual in both English and Swahili.
Article by Sunny Rosen