Every girl deserves the freedom to dream and decide her own future, including when it comes to marriage. VOW for Girls (VOW) is the growing global movement that partners with brands, couples, and the wedding industry to end the international child marriage crisis around the world.
VOW was founded by Mabel van Oranje, an avid human rights activist, who had an “aha” moment at a wedding where a couple asked for donations in lieu of gifts, which inspired her to marry the wedding industry to the international child marriage crisis, an issue she championed.
In recognition of International Day of the Girl on Monday, October 11, 2021 VOW just launched it’s 3rd annual campaign. This year’s theme, “Stop the Clock,” is a powerful response to the statistic that every three seconds a child as young as eight years old becomes a bride.
The campaign unites brands and the wedding industry to support this important cause, as well as help raise funds for programs that provide critical resources to girls at risk of child marriage. Luxury wedding designer Justin Alexander, wedding industry leader The Knot, and a generous private donor are sponsors of this year’s campaign. From October 4-11, every like, comment, and share of VOW’s social content on @vowforgirls will unlock $1 from the sponsors to help start a new future for girls everywhere, up to $100,000. 100% of all donations go directly to grassroots efforts to end child marriage.
To further build a groundswell of support for International Day of the Girl, Justin Alexander will host a virtual conversation to celebrate girls on Thursday, October 7 at 12pm ET via ZOOM that will be open to the public. Luxury wedding photographer, Style Me Pretty Little Black Book member, and VOW Pro+ member Rebecca Yale will join Justin Warshaw, CEO / Creative Director of Justin Alexander, Fanta Toure-Puri, Director of the Girls First Fund, and Clay Dunn, CEO of VOW for Girls for a conversation to learn more about the issue of child marriage and how couples and the wedding industry can come together to make a significant impact on the lives of girls around the world. For more information and to register for the event, please click here.
We sat down with Rebecca, to find out more about how she first learned about VOW, became a VOW Pro+ member, and why this cause is so close to her heart.
I first heard about VOW through their collaboration with The Little Market, which sells a candle that benefits VOW, so I looked into the organization a little bit. As I have been involved with nonprofits since I was a child, I’m very careful to not support one without doing thorough research first. After I saw Sarah Haywood posting about VOW and recognized the logo from my candle, I researched the organization and reached out to them directly to learn more. After our conversation and learning about what an incredible impact the organization was having, I knew I wanted to be involved right away!
To me, being a VOW Pro+ member means that I’m making a statement to the world about my business’ priorities. I came to wedding photography from the world of photojournalism and my intention right out of college was to use photography to help make the world a better place. There’s a saying in Judaism called Tikkun Olam, which means to heal the world. It’s the idea that we are born into a broken world and it is each of our responsibility to make it a little bit better. I wanted to use photography to do that, but I realized the world of documentary photography wasn’t quite right for me and I found my true calling and passion in the world of weddings. It was very important to me though for my business in the wedding industry to still enable my mission to make the world a better place and I always knew that giving back would be part of my business plan.
I’ve been involved with many organizations over the years and it is rare to find an organization where you can feel like you’re making a real impact. I worked on a fundraising project years ago with a different nonprofit to help in the fight against child marriage and ever since, have thought that there is a natural synergy with the wedding industry, so I was very excited to find VOW and join them. I think it’s important to have giving back and being a socially responsible business as part of our business plans. I spend my life photographing beautiful celebrations of love, which is what a wedding should be. It should not be something forced upon someone and if I can be a small part in making that choice possible for more women and children, why wouldn’t I?
There’s many different ways to incorporate giving back into your wedding planning. Weddings are expensive and you may not be able to dedicate 50% of your budget, but even something small like $20 can go a long way! There will be an estimated 2.5 million weddings in 2022 in America. If every single couple gave $20 that would be $50 million raised! Imagine how life-changing that would be for so many children across the world! You could consider making a donation in honor of your guests, perhaps a $1-$5 donation per guest and in lieu of a wedding favor and you could print something up letting them know a donation has been made in their honor. You could also encourage your guests to get in on it and ask them to donate to a charity registry in addition or as an alternative to a traditional registry. The problem seems so large and can seem far away, even though it’s very much not and exists at home in the US as well, so it can feel overwhelming and like there’s no point in trying. But if we each just do a small part it adds up quickly and that’s how we change the world!
Beyond the International Day of the Girl campaign, there are so many ways for individuals and wedding professionals to become involved with VOW. Couples getting married are instrumental to VOW, as the organization partners with engaged couples to align their registries with VOW or ask their wedding guests for donations in lieu of or in addition to gifts. To date more than 8K couples have engaged in VOW’s work. VOW Pro+ members are also extremely important, as they commit to making VOW part of their business by introducing our mission to their clients, featuring VOW on their digital platforms, and making VOW’s work a central focus of their personal and business philanthropy. Since January 2021, VOW has grown its VOW Pro Network to 16 countries and counting.
To learn more about VOW and how you can get involved, please visit https://vowforgirls.org/