Operation Glass Slipper dresses teens for prom

The prince found his Cinderella with a glass slipper. Now, two Garden City women are hoping to find a few more Cinderellas with their own glass slipper.Michele Bosen and Dee Lilla have teamed up to launch Operation Glass Slipper and are putting out a call for donations of prom dresses and accessories to provide the dressy attire to Garden City High Schools teens who can't afford to buy the clothing."It started with the idea of helping out the community," said Lilla. "We wanted to call it Cinderella's Closet, but that's been trademarked.""It started at homecoming," added Bosen. "We have cheerleaders and heard some girls talking about Homecoming. One (girl) was concerned that she would be on the Homecoming court and she was anxious about being able to afford the dress.The Post-Show Chat: Erin Fetherston Suggests Sequins for Fall.A couple of the moms helped out the family."While they would eventually like to gather prom fashions for the boys, they're focusing on the girls, hoping to collect 200 dresses to have available to senior girls before the prom in early May. In addition to dresses, they are accepting accessories like shoes and purses and hoping some salons might consider offering hairstyling for the young ladies.
They're looking for a variety of dress sizes, and "if we have a couple of seamstresses, they can do the nips and tucks" to make sure they fit.Senior girls who can benefit from the program will need to contact a staff member at the high school or Bosen of Lilla to sign up. They will receive an appointment for March 31 to visit the Glass Slipper, which will be set up in a classroom at Henry Ruff School at Maplewood and Henry Ruff. They will need to be accompanied by an adult 18 years and older when they visit the dress "shop.""We'd love to be able to do a head to toe for every girl, but right now they'll get a dress," said Lilla. "We hope they can get a choice of another item.
What's nice about this is that everything can be anonymous, no one needs to know where the dress came from. And if they don't need the dress afterwards, they can bring it back."The two women also are putting out a call to businesses that would like to donate goods and services. Cleaners with dresses that have never been picked up, stores with items they'd like to donate. Operation Glass Slipper is a non-profit and can provide letters for tax purposes, Bosen said.Lilla has been talking to a woman in Minnesota that operates a similar program who has suggested that they look at places like Value City for dresses. Monetary donations would help pay for such purchases.