reDressed’s mission; to satisfy the missing component in the rehabilitation of the domestic violence

BY JONELL PANTLITZ

A true force of nature, expressive, confident and a heart of gold; that is how many would describe the late Wendy Wiltshire. Born in Trinidad and Tobago, Wendy was a corporate professional, event planner and world traveller. She always loved to bring joy and create memorable experiences for others. With the generosity that Wendy held, it might not come as a surprise that one of her last acts, before passing, was to donate all her clothing to “reDressed,” an advocacy program dedicated to providing clothing to domestic abuse survivors. On December 11^th, 2020 the world lost this beautiful soul to breast cancer.

reDressed is a non-profit established on the December 14^th, 2019 by Wendy’s sister Diane Fury Wiltshire. reDressed’s mission is to satisfy the missing component in the rehabilitation of the domestic violence or abuse survivor. According to Fury, because of her personal experience with domestic violence, she knows that aside from the physical aspect of just surviving, many people leave with shattered self-esteem.

Diane spoke on her experience, “Once I survived, physically, I realized that I needed to then work on my perception of myself, because of the way that my confidence completely shattered. I remember using clothing.  I said, if I would be able to perfect the way that I looked outwardly, maybe some of that would seep into the way that I felt inwardly.”

It then started to become true for Diane; the better she knew she looked, little by little she regained her confidence, and that helped her recapture her sense of femininity and assuredness in herself. Diane also mentioned, “Once you have survived, you then have to start to rebuild what has been eroded psychologically, and for women, one of the things that are important to us is the way we look and present to the world.”

This is why reDressed will be supporting and partnering with programs, agencies, shelters and safe houses in the county of Essex to provide dresses and other clothing.

Wendy believed in everything that Diane was doing, she was on the board as Secretary and Treasurer of the non-profit. So, knowing how important Wendy felt about what reDressed stands for Diane decided to honour her sister by continuing her legacy through her non-profit.

Diane said, “A lot of people’s lives have been enriched by not just the things that she gave, but certainly the experiences, she geared people to discovering the world. She was born that way. You know, she would come up with these fantastic ideas, and in the beginning, a lot of people are like, yeah, you can’t do that. She would come back and show you that she could. She really pulled off some extraordinary things.”

Most of the clothing that reDressed provides is donated or comes from the Wiltshire boutique Dressed Up. Diane mentioned, “I would love if anyone, when decluttering, would donate their clothing instead of throwing it away. And, if you cannot get it to us, take it to a Domestic Violence agency and donate in Wendy’s honour.”

For more information about reDressed and how you can donate visit www.dressedup.shop/redressed