SOS Chidren's Villages

Why should children WOW?

School children love getting creative, dressing up as their favourite super-heroes, wearing their mum’s clothes, decorating their school bag or pencil case, making their own hats – anything is possible as long as it shouts ‘WOW’! WOW provides children in the UK with an opportunity to learn about other countries, cultures, religions and ways of life. We can provide schools with great resources from photographs and lesson planners to specific country information. By ‘wearing something WOW’ children are not only inspired to be creative and have fun, but are also empowered to make a difference to the lives of children who are less fortunate than themselves.

Where will my money go? Your donations will all go to SOS Children’s Villages, the world’s largest orphan charity, which gives over 70,000 orphaned and abandoned children around the world a new mum, a new home, and new brothers and sisters. Many different SOS projects will benefit from WOW donations, including a new SOS Children’s Village in Chipata, Zambia where more than 10% of children are orphans. To donate you can go to our secure online donation page or find out more about ways you can support our work. What percentage of my money will go to the children? All money donated to World Orphan Week will go directly to SOS Children. We can guarantee that 100% of your donation goes directly to the children because we cover all our costs by the tax we recover from Gift Aid. How much money do we expect people to contribute? To ‘wear something WOW’ for a day, we are asking for a donation of £1 per person. If you would like to donate more, however, then please do! Here you can find out more about ways you can support our work.

How can I get involved in ‘wear something WOW’ and will it take up much time?

It is really easy and very quick, to get involved. All you need to do is register for your free fundraising pack online here. WOW! It’s so simple, just get dressed up for a day and change a child’s life! We also have a 'How to WOW' page with more inspiration for you.

I'd like some ideas on how I can ‘wear something WOW’

We have lots of fabulous ideas:

• Put ribbons in your hair (including the boys!), bells on your bag or stick tinsel on your glasses
• Swap your cap for a sombrero, your belt for some braces, or your twin set and pearls for fancy dress?
• How about a holiday theme? Dress up as if you were on a hot Spanish beach! Or covered up to the eyeballs as if you were going penguin-watching in the Antarctic!

For more wacky and fun ideas, please visit our 'How to WOW' page.

How is The Monsoon Accessorize Trust involved?

We are delighted to be partnering with Monsoon and Accessorize for the WOW Campaign. As well as publicizing ‘wear something WOW’ worldwide, all Accessorize and Monsoon stores (with an Accessorize section) will soon be selling a fabulous WOW scarf for adults and beautiful bag and bandana for children. Profits from these items are going directly to SOS Children, so why not hop down to your nearest store and take a look?

Which celebrities are involved?

A whole host of celebrity supporters have given their support for WOW including Phil Spencer, Louise Minchin, Georgie Henley, Leee John, John Christophe Novelli and George Alagaih. For more details on our celebrities’ involvement, please visit the WOW celebrity supporters page.

How can I raise awareness of ‘wear something WOW’?

Our free fundraising pack, which you can get by post if you register here or by downloading from here, contains lots of posters which you can put up around your office, school, club, church or neighbourhood.

Whatever you do, shout out to the world that ‘wear something WOW’ is coming!

How do I send you the money I've raised?

• Send us a cheque, made payable to ‘World Orphan Week’, to:
  WOW, SOS Children, 59 St Andrew’s Street, Cambridge, CB2 3BZ
• By bank transfer: please contact us for more details
• We also have a donation page, if you would like to donate online
• Call us on 01223 365589 with your credit or debit card details
• Complete the paying-in slip that comes with your free fundraising pack and take it to your bank (if you downloaded your pack, please contact us on info@wearwow.com and we can post you a paying-in slip)

How does Gift Aid help?

Gift Aid is a simple way to grow your donation by 28% and won’t cost you a penny. If you are a UK tax payer, please make sure you fill in the simple Gift Aid form available to download or included in your free fundraising pack when you register, that way we can claim tax back on your donation.

How can I contact the WOW team?

Call us on 01223 365589 or email us at info@wearwow.com. Do please get in touch, we’d love to hear from you, and we are happy to answer any questions you may have. And send us any photos of your ‘wear something WOW’ day and we can put them up on the website!

What does WOW stand for and how long has WOW been going?

‘WOW’ stands for ‘World Orphan Week’. It began in 2005 when dedicated volunteer and mum-of-two Katie Dudley wanted to give more children around the world the chance to have a mum and a home. To date, Katie, her good friend Karen Paxton, and numerous other volunteers, have helped raise over £300,000 for SOS Children through WOW. We are truly grateful for their sheer dedication and commitment.

We’d like to ‘wear something WOW’ but are also interested in other WOW ways to raise funds