Visit The Empowerment Program's Flossy Project and you'll hear the whirring of sewing machines and the happy chatter of once troubled women working toward independence and self-sufficiency. The Flossy Project, a skills building sewing workshop, provides at-risk women in the Denver metro area with counseling, support, and hands on job skills training as they learn to hand sew "Flossy the Feel Better Bunny;" plush, heirloom-quality bunny rabbits available at the Tattered Cover Bookstores.

The Empowerment Program was founded in 1986 with the goal of providing education, employment assistance, health, housing referrals, and supportive services to disadvantaged women in the Denver metro area. Many women served by the Empowerment Program have experienced extreme mental, emotional and physical trauma due to homelessness, poverty, domestic violence, addiction, AIDS, mental illness and other hardships. The Flossy Project, one of the many programs encompassed by The Empowerment Program, was established in 2005 by Executive Director Carol Lease and Mental Health Counselor Joycee Kennedy L.C.S.W to provide support for participants in need of intensive trauma therapy.

Flossy The Feel Better Bunny, who was named for nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale, was designed to be a comfort both to those who purchase them and to those who create them. Each Flossy Project participant receives training in sewing and seamstress work and gains experience in production, marketing, public speaking, sewing techniques, and quality control. Through this combination of counseling, education and hands on training, the Empowerment Program provides Flossy seamstresses with a stable, therapeutic working environment, unique job skills, a desire to strive for personal success, and the ability to earn a living wage.

Flossy bunnies are available at the Tattered Cover Bookstores and the Empowerment Program offices. The program is currently seeking monetary support as well as donations of items such as sewing machines and fabric, in order to expand the Flossy Project to serve more women. All proceeds go directly to the wages of the project participants and the expansion of The Flossy Project. For questions about the program, or to order a custom Flossy The Feel Better Bunny, please contact Joycee Kennedy at 303-320-1989.