From the Fall 2009 issue of Relationships magazine.

CariAnn Litz and Jessica Savard, leaders in Lakeland, Fla., were at SharpTop Cove (Young Life's camp in Georgia) with a group of high school girls when they noticed a need. "These girls barely [had] enough clothes for a week at camp," Litz said. "We wondered, 'How do they have clothes for school?'" Upon their return home, they decided to write letters and raise the money to take four or five girls on a back-to-school shopping spree. "God knew the need," Savard said, "and He just happened to show us how to meet it."

The night before the big excursion, they hosted a sleepover, featuring a What Not To Wear-inspired fashion show. Together, they also watched a few episodes of the TLC television show. More important than the clothes, Litz and Savard desired to give the girls a better understanding of what messages their clothes were communicating.

"Respecting their bodies wasn't high on their priority lists," Savard said. "It was: 'What attention can I get, and how can I get it?'"

"We just wanted to extend to them that if you take the time to find things that fit well, you can really transform how you look and feel about yourself," Litz said. "If you are dressing for your body, then that's when you're the most beautiful."

The shopping trip lasted eight hours, and proved to be quite exhausting. "We learned a lot of nice ways to say no," Litz said. But, the experience was instrumental in helping the girls understand that clothing can both express and invite respect.

"A lot of them [had] put up walls," Savard said. "'People are going to notice me for this.' In reality, they were making up for something else. It's just been cool to help them come through that. It was definitely something that God did, and I was so happy to be a part of it."