The efforts of a Suffolk businesswoman this fall will ensure that dozens of other women in the city have a better chance at landing a good job and improving their lives.

Margie Wiley, a financial adviser in the Corporate Lane office of Edward Jones Investments, headed up this year’s Dress for Success clothing drive, which collected between 100 and 150 articles of clothing, including shoes and purses, appropriate for job interviews and professional offices.

Wiley said recently that about 50 women had benefited from the generosity of those who contributed the clothing. The recipients come from disadvantaged backgrounds, such as domestic abuse and other situations.

But it wasn’t just interview outfits that those women received. The Dress for Success program also gives participating women interview tips and help with writing résumés, and it helps provide them with outfits that will be appropriate once they’ve landed their new jobs.

“It’s building up their self-esteem, teaching them how to write, speak, interview and be a contributing member of society,” Wiley said. “It wasn’t just, ‘Here, we’re going to give you something.’ It was, ‘You have to earn it.’”

That’s the kind of help that helps most. And Suffolk is fortunate to have people like Wiley who are so committed to providing it.