*Announcing our new Program: Get R.E.A.L.*

Get R.E.A.L. - Realistic Expectations and Attitudes for Life, is focused on enhancing self-esteem, promoting positive body image, self-acceptance, and preventing eating disorders. By getting back to the basics of taking care of oneself, interpreting media messages appropriately and embracing overall wellness, we are striving to provide all age groups, from children through adults, with the tools necessary to ensure a healthy lifestyle. We want to eliminate dangerously unattainable and unrealistic standards - our goal is to encourage everyone to "get real."

HOPE will be creating a series of outreach videos that will be in the hands of guidance counselors at middle and high schools and to university student health care centers throughout Florida by August 2010. These will be accompanied by collateral material providing additional resources and supplements for the administration and students.

In addition, these videos will be available online so that our message can continue to spread! Program sponsorships are available! Please contact Allison at 321-231-0791.

*Pageant Pants*

The 2010 Pageant Pants Drive kicks off Feb. 1st and goes through the entire month of April!

Click the picture to below to learn all about Pageant Pants

Click the picture to below to view the Pageant Pants poster

Click the picture below to see the flyer for the Teens Go Green Jeans Event!

Click the picture below to read all about the Christmas in the City Event where HOPE donated 613 pair of jeans!

Click the picture below to read about our new partnership with Stein Mart!

Pageant Pants, an initiative of H.O.P.E., Inc celebrates healthy body image and positive self-esteem through an annual jeans drive. Working in partnership with the National Eating Disorders Association and their "Be Comfortable in Your Genes" campaign, this statewide jean collection is designed to encourage healthy lifestyles and realistic body image and acceptance.

Encouraging people to clean out their closets and donate jeans that no longer fit or ones they do not feel comfortable in, Allison delivers these back to community agencies with a powerful message of self-acceptance and being true to yourself. Her outreach and educational efforts help raise awareness, provide resources and most importantly, create an important dialogue by actively participating in this community service effort.

Allison has led this jeans drive for the past three years and in 2006, as Miss Florida, the name "Pageant Pants" was coined. Encouraging the contestants vying for the 2007 title, Allison enlisted these young women to go out into their local communities help spread the message by collecting jeans. Forty girls did just that and collected over 1500 pair! Allison delivered these new and slightly worn jeans to eleven agencies throughout the state and with each delivery she spoke to residents about overcoming personal challenges and having positive self-esteem.

Since the inception of NEDA's "Be Comfortable in Your Genes" campaign, Allison has spoken to thousands of people about positive body image and embracing the "real" you. As a survivor of bulimia, Allison is a pro-active voice in raising awareness of eating disorders and prevention. Since 2006 she has collected over 5,000 pair of jeans and has personally donated them back to community agencies throughout Florida who are in great need.

Meet our 2010 Jean Team Captains and Outreach Coordinators!
* Maude Leclerc- South Florida
* Elizabeth Pessin- Florida Gulf Coast University
* Elizabeth Tran- Central Florida
* Cassie Stafford- South Florida
* Jillian Tapper- Florida State University
* Shannon Marble- South Florida
* Katherine Sokol- Florida State University/ North Florida
* Talya Carness- South Florida
* Ashley Baumgartner- Oklahoma
* Kelly Redoutey- Central Florida

Scenes from 2009-2010

HOPE Teen Board member, Maude Leclerc, once again organized an AMAZING National Eating Disorders Awareness Week and Pageant Pants Drive! On Feb. 27, Maude was featured for the second year in a row on CBS 4 in South Florida!

On Friday,February 27, 2009, Maude was on CBS 4 in Miami! Great job Maude!

***Click here to watch her interview***



University of Florida Candelight Vigil: Gainesville, FL (Feb. 25 2009)

***Click here to read about her presentation***



On February 26, HOPE Board members, Allison and Deborah, traveled to Tallahassee to participate in the NEDA STAR event- a nationwide effort to raise awareness for the need for mental health insurance parity.
Thank you to Kirsten Coleman for organizing a Pageant Pants Drive! She collected over 270 pairs of jeans!
Thank you so much to the following organizations, businesses and schools for supporting Pageant Pants over the years!
*The Miss Florida Organization and 2007 contestants
* Studio CARA
* Essence Salon and Day Spa
* WOAMTEC- Women On A Mission To Earn Commission
* Delta Delta Delta, Florida Gulf COast University
* David Maus Toyota
* XL 106.7
* Orlando Woman Newspaper
* eWomen Network Orlando
* Suburban Republican Women's Club of Seminole County
* Orlando Public Library
* ReMax Goldstar
* Miss Gainesville/ Miss Alachua County Pageant
* Miss Miami Pageant
* Coastal Pageants
* Delta Delta Delta, University of FL
* Delta Gamma, University of FL
* UCF Nightly News
* South Florida Superstars
* Lyman High School
* Passport Charter School
* American Heritage
* Bridgewater Middle School
* Indian Ridge Middle School
*Valencia Community College
*Delta Delta Delta, Stetson

Scenes from 2008

Total collection as of June 20, 2008= 2,667 pair!

HOPE campaign- South FL: Thank you so much to Louise Richer, HOPE board member, and Maude Leclerc, HOPE teen board member, for organizing this 2 week campaign!

On Wednesday, April 30, Maude was on CBS 4 in Miami! Great job Maude!

Click here to watch her interview

Some of the 2008 recipients are:
Edgewood Children's Ranch
Our Daughter's Keeper, St. Petersburg
Pinellas Village
Heartbeat Boutique, Melbourne, FL
Family Services of Metro Orlando
Boy's Ranch, Live Oak, FL
PACE Center
Women's Resource Center
Earl Nobles Family Service Center
Center for Women in Distress of Broward County
South Fl Youth Co-op
YWCA
Treasure the Children
*More coming soon....*

The official drop-off locations are as follows:
Studio CARA
1620 S. Orlando Ave.
Maitland, FL 32751

Essence Salon and Day Spa
515 N. Park Ave. Suite 114
Winter Park, FL 32789

Mammography Screening Centers
1530 Celebration Blvd., #400
Celebration, FL 34747

Re Max Goldstar
5122 Dr. Phillips Blvd
Orlando, FL

Jaspon, Armas and Armas, P.A.
640 N. Hillside Avenue
Orlando, FL 32803
407-513-9515
Drop-off from 8:30-5

Salon Ciseaux
658 North Wymore Road
Winter Park, FL 32789
407-865-5881
www.ciseaux.com

Lavished
1210 S. International Pkwy
Suite #122
Lake Mary, Florida 32746
www.shoplavished.com
407-444-2777

SPARK! Family Enrichment Center
5965 Red Bug Lake Road
Winter Springs, Fl. 32708
407-679-7775
www.SPARKEC.net

South Florida locations will be announced soon!

For more info on Miami locations, please contact Dyan at LEWDYAN1@aol.com

Los Angeles, CA- location to be announced

Scenes from the Pageant Pants Drive 2008

WOAMTEC first edition of Confident Women Magazine (April 2008)


Orlando Women Newspaper(Feb. 2008)



SW FL Parent and Child Magazine(March 2008)

All of the jeans that were bagged and ready to go were delivered to Edgewood Children's Ranch on March 28

At the storage unit where we sort the jeans and get them ready for distribution:

Thank you to Leslie Christin and Studio CARA for being an official drop-off location!

WOAMTEC Collection- Over 180 pair of jeans were collected March 4, 2008 by the women of WOAMTEC!

**An additional 53 pair were donated by WOAMTEC on March 6, 2008 making the WOAMTEC total 233 pair!**

**An additional 18 pair were donated by WOAMTEC on March 7, 2008 making the WOAMTEC total 251 pair!**

** The WOAMTEC total is= 522!

Thank you to Jillian Tapper, the new Miss Miami Outstanding Teen, for collecting over 170 pair of jeans!

Thank you so much to the Miss Gainesville Pageant for making Pageant Pants a charity that they support!

500 pair of jeans were collected March 4, 2008 at Bridgewater Middle School! Thank you so much!!!

The Miss Florida Pageant and Helping Other People Eat (H.O.P.E., Inc.)

Present

"Pageant Pants"

2007 Press Release

"Be Comfortable in Your Genes- Don't Fight Your Genes, Just Change Your Jeans"
The National Eating Disorders Association's "Be Comfortable in Your Genes" campaign is designed to call attention to positive body image and the dangers of eating disorders.

To celebrate healthy body image and positive attitudes the Helping Other People Eat, H.O.P.E. and the Miss Florida Pageant are supporting the "Be Comfortable in Your Genes" campaign by coordinating a statewide event entitled, "Pageant Pants." Through these efforts we asked each of our Miss Florida contestants and their Executives Directors to clean out their closets and donate jeans that no longer fit or ones they do not feel comfortable in. This was an opportunity to give back to our communities through the donation of these jeans while embracing our own individuality and self-acceptance with regard to size and shape. Over 1,500 pair of jeans were collected from the 40 local titleholders!

All of the items will be donated to the charities throughout the state of Florida. Because of their generosity, eight charities and schools will benefit from the jeans drive. Last year, as Miss Miami, Allison collected and donated over 1,000 items to Goodwill of Hollywood. Katie Mathews-Johnson, Miss First Coast 2007, collected over 240 pair of jeans and was named the "Jean Queen." Since she donated the greatest number of jeans she will receive a one-of-a kind denim outfit made by the International Academy of Design and Technology, hair care by Ana Yebba at Essence Salon and Day Spa and a make-up consultation by Janet Mednick of Onsite Beauty!

Allison has recently been named an Ambassador for the National Eating Disorders Association. She joins the ranks of Paula Abdul, Jamie Lynn Sigler and Scarlett Pomers. In addition she has teamed up with the Girl Scouts Uniquely Me Program to spread these positive messages.

Last year, the jeans were distributed to:
Edgewood Children's Ranch- Orlando, FL
PACE Center- Orlando, FL
Center for Drug Free Living- Orlando, FL
South Florida Youth Co-op- Hollywood, FL
YWCA- St. Petersburg, FL
Metropolitan Charities- Tampa, FL
Guarnare, Venezuela
Haiti