Knoxville Senior Aides Dress for Success on a Budget

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Senior Aides in the dress for success fashion show model professional and formal looks, including wedding attire.

For low-income seniors, getting job training is only part of the challenge they face in finding employment opportunities. Dressing for success on a low budget can be just as challenging and seniors have to be resourceful to find professional looks on a limited incomes.

As part of Older Americans Month, the Knoxville Senior AIDES program at the Family Investment Center showed its seniors that you can dress the part without breaking the bank. With the help of in-kind donations from the local Goodwill Industries, Knoxville Senior AIDES put together a dress for success fashion show featuring great looks for less. Senior Aides themselves modeled great looks like Mary Smith, who wore a two-piece floral skirt set for only $5. All of the outfits modeled cost less than $13, including outfits worn by two guest models, a bride and groom in formal wedding attire.

All Knoxville Senior Aides attended the event and local senior citizen centers were also invited bringing the number of participants to roughly 200. Despite the overwhelming attendance, the event only cost $300 for goodie bags and decorations. The goodies themselves were donations solicited by Knoxville staff from local companies and organizations.

Knoxville project director Adrienne Walker and job developer Sharon Bailey hope the event will encourage more seniors to take advantage of the great deals to be found at Goodwill and, in turn, support some of their fellow Senior Aides. The Knoxville project has at least one Senior Aide assigned to every Goodwill location in the city. Aides receive training in sales and warehousing jobs and are able to purchase items from their stores at a discount. Goodwill has hired two Knoxville seniors for unsubsidized placements in the past three years.