The Gordon TAFE Beauty Department is taking community empowerment to a whole new level! This dedicated team is spreading community love with candles!

The handmade soy candles are sold, and all profits are donated to charities or put aside for student scholarships through the TAFE’s Empower Program. 

Amber Beasley is the brains behind this amazing initiative. “The program is all about empowering women, youth, and children in need by donating funds to charities that support and educate them,” says Amber. 

These funds are raised by a group of dedicated Beauty students at Gordon TAFE. By involving their students in the program, Amber hopes to both empower them as individuals and to help them empower their local communities.

The students raise money throughout their studies by offering their skills in beauty therapy practical clinics where 100% of profits are donated to charity. On top of that, they also create scented soy candles, which are sold in the TAFE’s training salon.

“The candles are made in a chemistry unit that the students take. Each year, all new designs and flavours are created by students. They love it! And because the candles are made from soy, they’re sustainable!” Amber tells us.

All profits made are either donated to local and international charities like Give Where You Live and the Jodie O’Shea Orphanage in Bali, or they’re given as scholarships to disadvantaged women in Geelong.

One such recipient of the Empower Program Scholarship is Rebecca Lancaster. Amber tells us that Rebecca is a dedicated aid worker who visited rural India in 2014 to help and support women who had been forced into sex slavery. There, she contracted a rare parasite that has her still fighting for her life four years later.

“As an inspiring young lady who is constantly putting others first despite the challenges she faces, Rebecca was the perfect recipient of the scholarship,” says Amber. 

“Despite her hardships, she is still giving back to the community by giving massage therapy to terminally ill patients. She is truly inspiring, and perfectly embodies the Empower Program.”

With initiatives like the Empower Program, Gordon TAFE has made it possible for students to create real change through simple action.

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