“I am requesting the help of those in the communities that have touched my life,” says Shelby Anderson on her www.gofundme.com page. “I wish to be a contestant who is honest, healthy, fit, and ambitious.”

Anderson, a Warsaw High School grad, now a senior at Purdue University, started her gofundme account to raise funds to participate in the 2015 Miss Indiana USA pageant. As of last week, she has officially been accepted into the pageant, but now she’s got to raise the money to compete. “After being accepted into the pageant, I have realized that having the financial means to compete will be my obstacle,” she shared.

Anderson is trying to raise $1,195 by August 15. If she makes her goal by the deadline, she will be granted an advertisement in the Miss Indiana USA pageant brochure.

“Up until my graduation from Warsaw High School, I constantly compared myself to others, and I forgot what made me special and unique,” says Anderson. “I soon realized that life was too short, that I had to embrace the body, personality, and life that God chose to give me.”

“That is why I want to enter into the Miss Indiana USA Pageant. I feel that I can show women that their uniqueness and beauty shouldn’t be compared,” Anderson says. “I want to inspire women everywhere to be themselves and to reassure them that they are beautiful, no matter what.”

To support her on her Miss Indiana USA campaign, visit Anderson’s gofundme page at www.gofundme.com/missindianausadream. Anderson is also seeking businesses that may want to sponsor her.