People spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on what is, in their eyes, “the perfect prom dress.” So they wear it on that special night, feel like they’re living a real life fairy tale, and then put it back in the closet and never take it out again.

Isn’t it a waste to have a beautiful once-worn dress collecting dust in a closet?

The Dress to Impress Foundation believes it is. This is an organization that works to collect “formal wear for underprivileged girls.” The goal is to collect enough dresses to open a dress store in Saint Paul, Virginia. Saint Paul is one of the poorest regions in the country, and can really benefit from an organization like this. We take for granted how lucky we are to be able to look through hundreds of dresses until we find the one we believe was designed specifically for us, so why not give girls who have never experienced this a chance to find their perfect dress too?

 Juniors Chloe Matthewson and Alena Gabbe are the VHS representatives sponsoring this fundraiser. 

“Alena and I started Dress to Impress after we went on a mission trip to Virginia, ” said Chloe. “We went with some people who graduated VHS in 2012. One of the people, Joanna Eliasof, ran a prom dress drive to benefit the girls in the area we visited, and it was a huge success. We decided we’d try it too.” 

“We’ve collected around 50 dresses so far, and there are more donations coming,” Chloe added. People, from the second they heard about this fundraiser, have been giving everything they can. There is a clothes rack set up in the lobby at Verona High School until November 20, where you can drop the dress off. If that isn’t a convenient location for you, there is also the option of dropping the dress off in the donation bin at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Verona, NJ.

“It makes me feel like we are doing something for the greater good. A lot of girls in poor areas are unable to go to prom and other dances because they can’t afford a dress or shoes. I hope we can make a difference in the lives of  some underprivileged girls,” Chloe said. 

Take a second to remember that feeling you got when you put on that extravagant dress, put on your lip gloss and fixed up your hair. You got to be a real life princess for a day. Every dress donated gives one girl in Saint Paul the chance to experience that feeling. Everyone deserves the chance to twirl around and watch their dress as it forms around them in perfect, sinuous harmony. It’s not the beauty of the dress on them that will make it all worth it, but the smile they will wear that came because of you. So stop by and drop off any dresses you can, for every dress makes a difference.