As Prom season approaches, thousands of girls across the country will be on the hunt for the perfect Prom dress. For some, that dress will be found at the annual Princess Project dress giveaway.
The California based organization, The Princess Project, will hold a dress giveaway this weekend, where hundreds of girls will come to choose their Prom dress for free from a collection of donated dresses. It will take place on March 9, 10, and 16 on Market Street in San Francisco.
According to junior Miranda Smith, who led the dress drive at Redwood along with juniors Geneva Gondak and Sarah Ogden, the goal of the Princess Project is to help girls have a great Prom, even if they can not afford it.
“It aims to help girls who would could not otherwise afford the dresses, the shoes, the jewelry that girls need to get for Prom,” Smith said.
According to Mary Elsbree, the adult project coordinator for the Princess Project, 347 dresses were collected in Marin County high schools this year, 35 of which were from Redwood.
“Every year, the Princess Project seeks and receives thousands of beautiful new, or nearly new dresses and accessories in excellent condition from individuals, donors, and corporate partners,” Elsbree said.
According to Smith, the donated dresses go to San Francisco, where the Princess Project will hold a shop for girls to browse the racks of dresses, shoes, and accessories.
Girls can either make private appointments with a minimum of 10 people, or come to the shop individually with family members or friends. At the dress giveaway they can pick from the hundreds of dresses available to them.
Although the organization puts on the giveaway every year, this is the first year Redwood is participating in the drive. The drive took place from Feb. 4 and ran until Feb. 15.
The idea for Redwood to help with the donations came when the Leadership class learned of the Princess Project from other schools in the Marin High School Council, where students from various schools can meet and share ideas.
Smith said that she, Gondak, and Ogden decided to help lead the dress drive this semester because it was a new way of getting involved with the community.
“Geneva, Sarah and I wanted to do something that would be a fun learning experience and something that helped people in the community,” Smith said.
Smith said getting the program started at Redwood was an easy process and that students seem to be very interested in the overall mission of the project.
“We contacted the head of the Princess Project and told her that Redwood was interested in doing it, and she came over and helped us set it up right away,” Smith said. “She got us dress racks and gave us ideas to promote the donations.”
According to Elsbree, the upcoming dress giveaway is expected to attract over 1,000 girls on the hunt for the perfect Prom dress.
