Prom season can be an expensive time for students and families. But at Garinger High School, a program called "Cinderella’s Closet" allows students to pick out dresses for free.
This week, a mobile classroom at Garinger is loaded with racks carrying more than 200 new and gently used dresses.
Students will have the opportunity during their lunch breaks to browse the dresses, along with an assortment of jewelry, accessories and shoes — all available for free.
“They are amazed,” said Chenelle Johnson, a family advocate at Garinger and one of the event’s organizers. “They walk in and they see 10 racks of prom dresses. They have so many choices from colors to sizes to styles and it makes them really, really happy and ecstatic about going to prom.”
The dresses come from donations from groups such as the Lady Wildcats, a group of Garinger alumni that helped organize the program. The school says it expects around 150 girls to visit the pop-up shop. Last year, more than 200 dresses were donated and 125 were given away.
Talaina, an 11th grader at Garinger, said she was looking for a dress that would make a statement.
“I like relatively flashy dresses, mermaid tail dresses,” she said. “I like mainly outstanding dresses because I’m not a very basic person.”
She also said she may not have gone to prom if it wasn’t for this program.
“I think it’s a very positive way to assist students who don’t have transportation to get places, don’t have the ability to buy their own prom dress, and don’t have the options that are normally available to them without help from other people — or can’t ask for help from other people,” Talaina said.
According to Johnson, Talaina isn’t alone.
“It is very costly for students to attend prom," Johnson said. "The ticket sales is one … They get their dresses, they get their hair done, their accessories, what have you. It could be very expensive. This has helped families tremendously.”
