Cinderella Project helps girls purchase prom dresses

Ask most women about prom night and she may or may not remember her date."Oh it wasn't my husband unfortunately," Mary Hutchison said with a giggle.She almost always, however, remembers the dress."Oh I remember exactly the dresses I wore and shopping with my mom that was a big part of it," Hutchison went on to say.But unfortunately it's a shopping trip not every girl gets to experience because prom dresses can be pretty pricey. Luckily there's something called the Cinderella Project. "Well the Cinderella Project is our opportunity to support girls who may not be able to afford a prom dress and to provide them that magical dress as well as hair styling and all the things that go with making the prom event special," Hutchison explained.
"Well, at first I wasn't going to prom, but one day I got called down to the guidance office and I'm not sure who the lady was, but she told me they put my name in to be selected to get a dress," said Teneisa Salone, a junior at Parkway North.And after carefully going through the racks she chose a long, strapless pink gown."It fits me, it fits me perfectly," Salone said with a smile.As for a date, well..."I don't need no date," Salone said.After all, it's the dress that makes the girl feel like Cinderella.This Thursday night there's a big wedding show at Old Hickory Golf Club in St. Peters put on by Belleza Salon and Pearl Vodka. It's called "Cocktails and Veils." Tickets cost $25 at the door and proceeds benefit the Cinderella Project.
After Janine Mahan filled a hundred mailboxes with fliers, emailed her friends and family and used her personal Facebook page to spark interest, the giant Rubbermaid bin that sat in the driveway of her Cheshire home was filled to the brim with pillowcases every day for three weeks.It was September 2010, and Mahan was trying to spread the word about Dress a Girl Around the World and about a sewing event held by Cornerstone Church, in Cheshire. She’s been spreading the word and making dresses ever since.
Dress a Girl is a nonprofit organization that relies on volunteers to help create dresses from pillowcases and distribute them to girls in poverty around the world.Mahan had received an email from her women’s ministry leader, Pauline Gervickas, saying that they were looking for volunteers to help make pillowcase dresses at an event. Mahan said she thought about the email and considered that she knew how to sew and was pretty crafty. She clicked on the Dress a Girl website in the email to find out more.