CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- For years, Dress for Success Charlotte has given local women not a hand out, but a hand up into the workforce.

But now, the agency itself needs assistance so it can continue helping them.

These days, Frances Morgan looks like a million bucks. To look at her now, you'd never know that a few years ago times were tough. "My main thing was addiction. I was a drug addict,” she said.

She said getting arrested actually set her free.

"I was arrested. Today I look at it is as if I was rescued. I was placed into a work release and restitutional center,” she said.

It was that center that connected her to Dress for Success.

The non-profit agency gives disadvantaged women free interview suiting to enter the work force. Changing her clothing on the outside helped to spark a change in Morgan on the inside.

"It lifts up your self esteem, the abandonment, rejection, the loneliness, being afraid, and it begins to allow you to look at things totally different,” she said.

Morgan got a job, one promotion, and now she's up for another.

Dress for Success wants to bring that type of transformation to even more women by providing not just pieces for a new wardrobe, but financial literacy workshops, personal growth sessions; everything for a sustainable career.

"One hundred percent of the women we serve are low income so we are helping them in essence move up and out of poverty and on to a path of self sufficiency,” said executive director Kerry Barr-O’Connor.

The need is growing dramatically. Last year, dress for success saw an increase of 400 new clients seeking help. Meantime, the agency's lease is up, and it's bursting out of it's tiny 850 square foot space. Often they can't accept more donated clothing or offer more services because they just don't have room.

"We currently have 150 active volunteers and they are anxious and want to do more, and if we have more space, we can hep more people and that will benefit the community,” said O’Connor.

The agency just launched a campaign to raise money for a new, larger space. Morgan was one of the first to give so that other women can receive the same gift that she did.

Dress For Success