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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Walking into Dress For Success Luzerne County on Saturday, one would think it was just an ordinary day for the nonprofit.</p><p>Welcomed by tan and terracotta walls, a message board that read &#8220;Empowered women empower women,&#8221; sparkling jewels and the like, organization founder and executive director Linda Armstrong sat at her desk as she made her way through her work while simultaneously answering questions.</p><p>However, this wasn&#8217;t just any other day.</p><p>Behind Armstrong, nine volunteers were busy sorting, organizing and installing a variety of items in preparation for the boutique&#8217;s upcoming renovation.</p><p>Dress For Success was one of several area organizations receiving aid from this year&#8217;s Leadership Wilkes-Barre projects.</p><p>Armstrong founded Dress For Success Luzerne County in 2010. The organization works with 43 community agencies to assist local disadvantaged women looking to enter the workforce.</p><p>While the charity offers clothing, accessories, shoes and more free of charge, it also provides women with several other benefits through networking, support, and developmental tools that can be used in and out of the workplace.</p><p>&#8220;Our mission is to empower women to achieve economic independence,&#8221; Armstrong said. &#8220;We don&#8217;t just provide clothing, we help to change lives.&#8221;</p><p>In the midst of changing lives and helping so many women, Armstrong admitted she forgot to help herself.</p><p>The boutique has undergone a series of changes and mishaps over the years, including a move, smashed windows , flooding and more. While Armstrong has revamped and rebuilt each time, final touches from the last renovation were never able to be fully completed.</p><p>So when Tayler Collins got together with her Leadership Wilkes-Barre group in August, she suggested the idea of helping Dress for Success.</p><p>&#8220;I knew a lot about Linda and her mission and what she does for women in our area. I brought it up to our group all they all agreed that it would be a really good organization to benefit,&#8221; she said of the decision.</p><p>The group, dubbed &#8220;Dressed For the 9&#8217;s&#8221; has visited the shop several times already as it works toward a goal of having a streamlined shopping experience with additional storage space and a new lighting system.</p><p>&#8220;Our main goal was to help improve the organization of the space,&#8221; team member Kelly Bolesta said.</p><p><strong>&#8216;This was incredible&#8217;</strong></p><p>By 9 a.m. Saturday the crew was already hard at work, completing the new lighting, donated from Friedman Electric, above the conference room and clearing out a back storage area so it&#8217;s ready for the installation of new shelving and storage bins, courtesy of InterMetro Industries and Procter &amp; Gamble.</p><p>For Armstrong, the project acts as an upgrade that will allow for a truly exquisite experience for the women who need it the most. She added it was also special due to the fact that International Women&#8217;s Day is coming up on March 8.</p><p>&#8220;To our women who have never even shopped in a mall, this was incredible. This was a Tiffany experience,&#8221; she said. &#8220;But now we want to put the shine on Tiffany and move it up to Cartier.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Leadership Wilkes-Barre volunteers Kyle Stair, of Hanover Township, and Bill Roasin, of Forest City, take down old lighting fixtures to be replaced with new upgraded energy efficient LED bulbs at Dress for Success Luzerne County in Wilkes-Barre on Saturday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTl022419dressforsuccess-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Leadership Wilkes-Barre volunteers Kyle Stair, of Hanover Township, and Bill Roasin, of Forest City, take down old lighting fixtures to be replaced with new upgraded energy efficient LED bulbs at Dress for Success Luzerne County in Wilkes-Barre on Saturday. </caption0><photoCredit0>Amanda Hrycyna | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL022419dressforsuccess-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Leadership Wilkes-Barre volunteer Amanda Cromer, of Dallas, organizes women&#8217;s pants according to size while relocating them during renovation work Saturday at Dress For Success Luzerne County in Wilkes-Barre. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL022419dressforsuccess-2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Leadership Wilkes-Barre volunteer Amanda Cromer, of Dallas, organizes women&#8217;s pants according to size while relocating them during renovation work Saturday at Dress For Success Luzerne County in Wilkes-Barre. </caption1><photoCredit1>Amanda Hrycyna | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL022419dressforsuccess.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Leadership Wilkes-Barre volunteer Tayler Collins, of Wilkes-Barre, clears old shelving units filled with women&#8217;s pants to make space for the shelves to be taken down and replaced with new units Saturday at Dress For Success Luzerne County. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL022419dressforsuccess.jpg</photo2><caption2>Leadership Wilkes-Barre volunteer Tayler Collins, of Wilkes-Barre, clears old shelving units filled with women&#8217;s pants to make space for the shelves to be taken down and replaced with new units Saturday at Dress For Success Luzerne County. </caption2><photoCredit2>Amanda Hrycyna | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Marcella Kester</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div>

Dress for Success gets much-needed help from Leadership WB group