Wanted: gently used formal gowns for AHS prom

By DIANE SPEER, News Lifestyles Editor
Statistics show the average girl spends about $350 in preparation for her senior prom. Of that total, the major expenditure is the purchase of the perfect dress.

With today’s unstable economy, parents of most teenagers would welcome any suggestions for making the prom experience more affordable. The Youth Volunteer Corps at Alpena High School has come up with one such idea.

The group is asking area residents to sort through their closets for any gently used formal dresses that they would be willing to donate. YVC members will then offer the gowns free of charge to prom-bound students.

Space has been donated at the Center Building in downtown Alpena, where a boutique will be set up for interested girls to come try on dresses and then select one.

“The economy is low here, and we thought this would be a good opportunity for those with dresses just sitting in their closet,” said YVC Team Leader Tina Robbins, who borrowed the idea from a YVC group in Texas.

“The average woman will own between three and 10 formal dresses by the time she graduates from college,” Robbins said. “Then what happens? Those dresses end up spending years taking up precious closet space, never to be worn again.”

The alternative, said Robbins, is to donate them to a worthy cause that will potentially allow other women to experience the same joy of wearing a beautiful dress.

Anyone with gowns to donate should drop them at the main office at AHS between now and April 11. Then on April 14, young ladies who might not otherwise be able to have a prom gown, will be invited to the Center Building where they can choose a gown at no cost, with no strings attached.

Aware that some girls might feel a stigma attached to wearing someone else’s dress, Robbins said she plans to make the experience a positive one.

“We’re really going to try and prevent the stigma of owning a dress worn by someone else,” she said. “We want to set up the space like a boutique so that it looks really trendy and the dresses look really appealing.”

After all, Robbins contends, shopping for a prom dress is an event all in itself and she doesn’t want anyone to lose that experience. And in terms of practicality, if a girl is able to obtain a pretty dress for free, that allows her to spend money on other prom-related expenses like a purse, jewelry and getting hair, nails and make-up done at a salon.

For more information about the project, call the YVC office at 358-5245.