For the 2020 holiday season, we have partnered with The Morph Project, a local, women-run non-profit. We did an interview with them recently so you could get a better idea of who they are, what they do and how you are supporting them with every purchase made this holiday season!
Q: Can you introduce yourselves and The Morph Project for us?
A: We are Hilary Motley and Hillary Morin cofounders of The Morph Project. The Morph Project is a nonprofit that provides women in crisis with free haircuts, clothing, make-up, hugs, and encouragement. We connect with local nonprofits to put on events for women battling addiction, homelessness, domestic violence, illness, and other hardships.
Q: How, when and why did you start The Morph Project?
A: 3.5 years ago we started the morph project as Hilary was cutting Hillary’s hair, we were having real conversations about hard times in our lives, past and present. We both agreed that while going through these hard times we felt alone, judged, shame, and definitely not beautiful. We both had a huge desire to take that pain and give it purpose. We wanted to help women in need feel beautiful, loved, wanted, enough, and happy. We wanted to build a community of people to gather around those struggling and lift them up. Since Hilary cut hair and Hillary had a huge love of styling women through her Goodwill finds, we built this project. We decided to set up all the clothing like a store and then offer haircuts as well. We wanted to provide dignity to these women to shop and take whatever they needed. We also annually hold a Christmas event where we provide presents for these women and their children for Christmas.
A: Our favorite memory comes from why the Morph project has the name it does. Watching these women go through a metamorphosis in their confidence from the beginning of the event to the end is absolutely our favorite memory time and time again. We also love just watching them open up and share their journeys with us and all of the volunteers. It is a beautiful and sacred time.
Q: Tell us more about what you’re doing for this upcoming holiday season.
A: So this holiday season our normal large gathering was just not possible with everything going on in 2020. This year we decided the best option was to collect donations from the community to purchase gift cards for these families. We are working with local shelters directly to serve those families. We are also excited to be putting together gift bags for the mothers of these children as well.
Q: What’s next for you guys? Where do you see The Morph Project going in the future?
A: We are working on what is next as we navigate this ever changing season. Our ultimate dream is to make this a full time nonprofit that can be available to our community and many others. There is such a need for it and we have such a positive response from the women, shelters, and volunteers. Holding large events at local salons may not be possible for a while with the pandemic as they and many small businesses we work with have been hit hard so we are working on creative ideas to bring hope, encouragement, and love to these women and children in crisis in our community. No matter what this is our passion and what we love to and we will find a way to do it even now. There is now an even more demand for what we do as mental health, addiction, abuse, homelessness, and crisis continue to be on the rise in our country. We definitely are excited to put out more online content to spread the word about what we do and also highlight the stories of these women and all they conquer.
Have questions about The Morph Project? Drop them below and we'll answer them for you!
1 comment
Would love to get involved…in person and hands on when it’s safe of course. Newly divorced and needing an outlet and focus. Want to give back