31 March 2009

Sparkly Happy People

Saturday morning. 5.30am. The alarm sounds.

Snooze.

Again, 5.39am. Alarm.

Again, snooze.

This goes on for another half hour or so, until a critical point was reached. I needed to be somewhere at 6.30am, and before I left, I needed to be dressed and ready, and the dog walked and tended to.

Why? Saturday was the 8th annual giveaway for The Princess Project, promotes self-confidence and individual beauty by providing free prom dresses and accessories to high school girls who cannot otherwise afford them. This is my fourth giveaway, and each year it gets better and better!

At 6.30am, there were already at least 500 teenage girls, plus guests, in line. Some had been there since the night before. We knew this year would be packed; with the economy in the state it's in, there are even more young women who would really appreciate a dress.

By the end of the day, we had seen over 800 girls. 837, to be exact. This was a first; we'd never had that many go through in one day. I worked the door the entire day, and seeing the excitement on so many faces was so rewarding, it made all the hard work over the last few months way worth it! The site was set up in a way that the girls left through a different door, so we didn't get to see them leaving with the dresses, but from what we hear most were thrilled!

As a completely volunteer-run non-profit, we are constantly raising money. "For what?", you may wonder. While we collect most of our inventory from the community, there are sizes that aren't generally donated. Because we want to make sure girls of all sizes and shapes have several dress choices, we often have to supplement our inventory by purchasing dresses. In addition, there are the general overhead costs -- Princess Passes, signage, etc.

Interested in helping? Just 25$ sends a girl to prom! All donations are tax-deductible. You can click the widget below or go to our website, PrincessProject.org, to donate. Thanks!








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