Calling All Cinderellas
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[3 Comments]Dana Davis believes that every girl should feel like a princess. To wear a beautiful gown, wear her hair up, maybe with a tiara or tiny flowers or jewels tucked inside her curls.
As a single mom with a daughter, Rachel, now in college, Dana vividly remembers Rachel's senior prom and how she scrimped and saved and went without for months so Rachel would never feel left out.
"So often as she grew up, Rachel was painfully aware of our lack of finances," Dana says. "When it came time for prom, I didn't want her to have to settle."
They shopped off-season and hit the clearance racks. Rachel's dress, a strapless strawberry pink chiffon, made her feel beautiful, exactly as her mother had hoped she would feel.
Two years ago, as Dana helped Rachel pack to go off to college, they found themselves inside Rachel's closet going through her clothes and reminiscing. As they got to Rachel's prom dress they started to talk about how special that night was for both of them.
Rachel knew the sacrifice her mother had made for her, and they kicked around an idea for a place where girls could go to get a prom dress for free. They laughed because the idea sounded absurd. Besides, how could a single mom and an 18-year-old girl heading off to college get enough prom dresses together for an event? Where would they do it? And who would help?
One evening while at her Working Christian Women fellowship group at her church, Cornerstone Baptist Church in Inverness, Florida, Dana mentioned her and Rachel's idea.
"I told our group that I wanted to have 125 prom dresses and for 10 girls to come to our event. I thought that was dreaming big," Dana says.
The women in the group, about 15 of them, unanimously agreed to sponsor this crazy idea. That was January, with prom only a few months away. They had no money, just a desire to affect the lives of young girls in their community. They believed that God cared about prom dresses and up-dos and high-heeled sandals, and started asking their friends and co-workers if they would like to donate their old prom dresses.
The local newspaper got wind of it and featured their cause on the front page of the paper. Dresses came pouring in. Local bridal shops and consignment shops donated scores of dresses, shoes, and jewelry. Local salons donated gift certificates for hair and nail services the day of the prom.
By March, they had launched the first Cinderella's Closet prom dress give away event. And not 10, but 38 girls from one local high school received free prom dresses.
In addition to the prom dress give-away event, which they did on a Friday after school and all day Saturday, they also had a "getting ready" event the day of the prom where girls could come and get their hair, nails, and make up done, get dressed plus have their photos taken.
One of their biggest concerns from the start was dry cleaning, since many of the dresses needed to be cleaned. As an answer to their prayer, a local dry cleaner offered their services—free dry cleaning for any dress donated to Cinderella's Closet.
Related Topics:
Help, human, Mentoring, Serving, Teenagers
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Connie
This prom dress idea was a very thoughtful and helpful thing to do....so mnay young ladies get all stressed out when the time comes to buy a prom dress, but don't have the money, and knowing that her parents can't afford to buy her one. This is a very worthwhile program. I hope many, many young ladies benefit from this!
Anonymous
How do you determine (and prove) eligibility for a free dress?
Denice Thornton
Great idea. But... how about Christian teens having an alternative to the prom. Our church has a banquet each year around prom time. This banquet is a graduation from our abstinence program. Everyone gets dressed and comes out to celebrate our youth, their abstinence, and their choice not to go to prom!
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