Every girl deserves to wear that one special dress on the night of their prom, and ASASUD is trying to make that possible for local high school girls.
ASASUD is sponsoring a local dress drive called “Donate Your Dress” to collect used prom dresses for high school students who cannot afford to buy prom dresses.
ASASUD will donate the dresses to a local high school and an organization called Cinderella’s Closet in Tucson. Cinderella’s Closet is the currently the only organization in Arizona that works with the Donate Your Dress program.
Sen. Erika Vera of University College came up with the idea.
“I started this initiative to give an opportunity to girls who do not have the money to buy a prom dress and to be able to not have to worry about that,” Vera said. “Prom is a very special experience.”
Vera hopes to collect 100 dresses total by the first week of April.
If all 100 dresses are collected, 50 will go to a local high school and the other 50 will go to Cinderella’s Closet.
The original deadline was March 25, but ASASUD extended it to April 2 in the hopes of receiving more dresses.
Vera has collected 30 dresses so far.
“If 70 students donated one dress, we can accomplish our goal of collecting the 100 dresses,” Vera said. She added that the dresses do not have to be specifically for prom, because the drive is open to any type of formal dresses.
Students can drop off dresses at the post office in downtown Phoenix at North First Avenue and West Fillmore Street in Room 206.
“I am appreciative of what they are doing with this dress drive,” ASU sophomore Kristin Cabrera said. “I never could afford a dress and know how these girls feel.”
Vera got the idea for the drive out of Seventeen magazine, where she saw other dress drives being started in communities across the United States. Cinderella’s Closet owner Melissa Tureaud said she also got the idea out of a magazine.
“My sister Jennifer and I saw a similar program a few years back in a magazine and wanted to make sure girls in Tucson had the same opportunity,” Tureaud said.
Tureaud and her sister Jennifer McCaig started Cinderella’s Closet in May 2008 and collected over 200 dresses last year.
“It’s about feeling good about yourself and staying active in school,” Tureaud said.
Contact the reporter at jlbrownl@asu.edu
