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Local children’s boutique offers clothes with a message

It’s fashion with a purpose. If you saw the adorable little ones on this morning’s Indy Style, you know their cute shirts were worn with a powerful message, a reminder to be kind to others.

Shauna Metzger, owner of Lil Bloomers Boutique, says bullying is something she’s seen over and again from her involvement with the Hamilton County Homeless Task Force. The idea to create anti-bullying slogan shirts came from her experience with many children who were homeless.

Here’s more from Shauna, in her own words:

“Here are just two stories in particular really touched me: One was a 10 year old girl who has only lived in homeless shelters. She has gone from shelter to shelter until she finally landed in Third Phase (Noblesville Shelter). She said Noblesville schools were good and she wasn’t being bullied. She wasn’t so lucky with any of her previous schools. She got bullied by kids because the school bus would pick her up and drop her off at the local homeless shelters. They knew she didn’t have a home and they were mean.

The other story that touched me was a pregnant thirteen-year-old who was entering her Freshman year in high school. She experienced extreme bullying both online and in school due to her pregnancy. What other students didn’t realize was that she was pregnant because of sexual misconduct by an adult. She ended up dropping out of school and is now twenty one still with an 8th grade education.

When I opened the store I thought it would be a great opportunity to make a product that can be used to help prevent bullying and bring awareness to using kind words. That’s where the shirts came in. I found a local designer and asked if she would make a few shirts that we could test and see how well people responded to them. The response has been great, and we are getting ready to take them to schools and present them as a fundraising opportunity for the schools so that they can support their own anti-bullying causes.”

What a powerful message Shauna! If you’d like to learn more about these anti-bullying shirts, visit www.mylilbloomers.com.