A Northern Virginia nonprofit group is holding a pop-up prom dress shop giveaway next Saturday, April 12.
Dozens of high school girls getting ready for prom will be able to walk out with a free dress they otherwise couldn’t afford. The pop-up could use some more dresses, though.
The event is being held at Purcellville’s BetterALife, which focuses on feeding kids from kindergarten through high school in Loudoun and Fairfax counties, while also providing homework help and other life skills, including cooking classes. Now, they want to treat some of those kids as the school year winds down.
“These young ladies, like any young girl, has grown up watching Cinderella, getting ready to be the princess,” said BetterALife CEO Elizabeth Ford. “But due to circumstances, their families can’t afford these dresses. And so dreams and hopes that were once little girls now are ‘Can I?’ or ‘Will we be able to?’ And so we’re helping those dreams come true.”
The hope is that dozens of girls will be able to get a dress next Saturday. And it’s not too late to sign up to receive one.
“We’re looking for a dress that will just brighten the eyes of a young lady who can’t afford one,” Ford said. “We know what typical teens like to wear. But some like elegant, some like non-elegant, more casual kind of comfort. So any dress is a good dress for them.”
Anyone with a dress to donate, whether new or gently used, can drop it off at BetterALife between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, though Ford said she’s willing to show up at any time if those hours don’t work for someone.
Other shops around their office on Maple Avenue in Purcellville will also hold on to donations if need be. They just have to be there by Friday, April 11.
Ford said any financial donations she gets for the cause will send her to the store to buy more dresses too.
“A lot of these children go home by themselves every day and they don’t have someone to help provide a meal for them, and that can lead them to going outside and finding the wrong friends and wrong people to hang around with while they’re looking for what they need,” Ford said. “We give them the resources and the tools to take care of what they need on their own and safely.”
Donations of costume jewelry and makeup have also come in recently to help those girls get prim and proper with their dresses.
“We would love to make this bigger, if we can,” Ford said. “This is the first year we’re doing it, so it is new, but we would absolutely love to grow our dress amount so that we can help more … young ladies in need.”
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