Young Detroit Business Woman Donates 10% of Sales to Help Fight Ebola Crisis in Liberia
October 16, 2014 - By Dave LewAllen - ABC News
Tracey Garley came to America from Liberia when she was 11 years old.
"I've been here since then, went to school, graduated from Michigan State and I have a upscale boutique in downtown Detroit," said Garley, owner of Zarkpa's Purses and Accessories.
At the age of 25, Garley is living the American dream after opening her store earlier this year. "We came here for a better life," she told Action News. "The American dream is all about turning your dreams into reality and believing in yourself," Garley said.
Back in her native country, it's a daily struggle for life and death. The Ebola virus has already killed more than 2,300 people in Liberia, according to the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and international concern is growing.
Since September, Garley has been donating 10 percent of sales at her store to help in the fight against Ebola.
"We just wanted to help and give awareness about Ebola," she said. "My Mom told me she's lost friends left and right, 2014 has been like, I've seen my Mom cry almost everyday because she losing childhood friends that she grew up with."
Garley said awareness of the deadly virus among those in her own age group is only now beginning to register.
"We don't take nothing serious no more, everybody take everything as a joke and now that when it hit in Texas, that's when people said, 'oh, Ebola is real,'" said Garley. "No, it's been real since April and people have been dying. Until something happens in the United States, that's when everybody going, 'OK, it is serious.'"
