
Next month, Menlo- Atherton High School in Atherton will hold its young homecoming, and Tais Roman wants to go big, virtually.
” I just want a billowy dress”, the 17- year- ancient said lately, holding an armful of curled prospects inside a downtown Santa Clara complex- turned- prom dress shop. ” But sometimes I may try to get things under it so it may grow bigger.”
On March 13, lots of Bay Area teenagers showed up for the monthly giveaway at the Princess Project Silicon Valley, an event where individuals may choose clothes, shoes, and equipment to use on their special day for free. The nonprofit’s Monroe Street location had full-length mirrors, full-length mirrors, a fitting room, and some rows of rainbows dresses in.
The Princess Project accepts fresh and gently used items from group members year-round, along with more pages in San Francisco, San Diego, and Sonoma. Finally, just in time for the spring graduation season, personal and public contests take place over the course of several weeks in March. Students are not required to provide economic justification for participating.
Like Roman, Menlo- Atherton top Jalia Johnson came to the occasion knowing what she wanted, a gown in either red or black, and ankle size. This was the 18- year- old’s second time shopping at the Princess Project, and she heard about the event through Live in Peace, an East Palo Alto- based youth empowerment program.
” I feel like it’s a great opportunity, not everyone has something like this”, Johnson said, browsing through a rack of dark- colored dresses. ” To simply have a place where you can go and pick out your own dress.”
The selection seems endless, but even if students are n’t able to find something they like, they can always improvise.
Pispisa Crabtree, from Newark Memorial High School in Newark, for instance, wanted to get a green or blue dress for her senior prom, but did n’t mind dyeing a plain white dress those colors if she found one that fit well.
As the senior, 17, gently touching the fabric of a white dress as she waited in line for a fitting room, said,” I was planning to look into it more. ” Synthetic does n’t dye well, so I’ll need to look at the tag”.
She ultimately made the decision to search for another gown.
The organization employs pink apron-wearing volunteers known as “fairy godmothers” to aid attendees in their search for a dress. Mary Rose, a resident of Palo Alto, made her first appearance on March 13 after learning about it through a friend. She helped find a red dress for a blind girl an hour into her shift.
” She was like,’ I’m Cinderella!’ and started singing Bibbidi- Bobbidi- Boo”, Rose said, smiling. ” She could n’t see the dress, but she was just thrilled to get it. It was touching”.
Rebecca Flores, president of Princess Project Silicon Valley, does n’t take these precious dress shopping days for granted, especially after the COVID- 19 pandemic, when the chapter’s annual giveaways were forced to end due to shelter-in-place and social distancing measures.
Her chapter, Flores said, took a serious financial hit, and devoted the majority of its resources and resources to storing hundreds of dresses in storage. The organization reintroduced giveaways in 2022, once restrictions had lifted, and handed out a modest 209 dresses. By 2023, however, the number had grown to 964. Since January, the project has given away more than 600 gowns, and volunteers are still counting.
” Back then, we were sort of filtering smaller groups as much as we could and staying within the constraints and the requirements that were in place at the time,” Flores said. ” Now, we’re in full force”.
Anglinah Alaura, a fellow Newark senior, applauds the chapter’s resolve to resume giveaways. Prom can be an expensive affair, she said, and pandemic- related economic issues have only made it worse.
” I think it’s really important, especially now with this economy and ever since the pandemic, prices have shot up”, she said. I was tallying it up and you do n’t realize how expensive it is, even when I was just getting accessories or shoes.
No matter what kind of global phenomenon occurs, prom is always an exciting time for high schoolers, Rose said. Rose is moved by the attendee’s eager faces, which is reminiscent of the prom days her own sons had.
” I remember it like it was yesterday, when they were going to the prom”, she said. ” It’s a big deal for them in high school”.