The Center for Student Leadership, Ethics, and Public Service’s Community Outreach Service Leadership Team is sponsoring a prom dress drive, Dresses for Dreams, for underprivileged local high school girls and will be accepting dress donations from now until April 9th. Students are asked to bring their gently used formal dresses to the Talley Student center where a drop-off box is located on the main floor near the stairs.

Committee member, Marilee Neal, freshman in psychology, said the committee has spoken with five local high schools and six agencies that help underprivileged teens and families who will recommend girls to the event. She said donated dresses will be picked up by the prom-goers on April 10th and volunteers are needed for this event, to be held at the Hope Community Church in Raleigh from 1 to 4 p.m.

“We are hoping for around 100 dresses so hopefully we will get the same number of girls attending,” Neal said. “The church will be nicely decorated and the girls are invited to come in and try on dresses, leaving with their selection free of charge.”

She said the committee is putting on the drive based on the suggestion of one of their members whose high school had done something similar in the past.

“Our committee is meant to reach out to others and build up families and teens in the community. We talked about the importance of prom in a girl’s life, what a big event it was,” Neal said. “Some girls aren’t able to go because it is so expensive so we wanted to relieve a little of their stress surrounding that.”

Caroline Gilbert, sophomore communications, said the drive is a great idea because everyone should get to attend prom, regardless of financial status.

“Prom is a rite of passage and money shouldn’t prevent anyone from enjoying it,” Gilbert said. “It was a great way to celebrate my high school experience with friends and was a great way to finish the school year.”

Equally important as the event is the dress you wear and the memories made in it, Meredith Shaw, sophomore in secondary history education, said.

“I liked my dress senior year better than I liked my date,” Shaw said. “To me, the memories and pictures from the night mean more than the actual event.”

Prom, to many girls, is something built up throughout life by pop culture, parents, and friends and is something you look forward to for many years, Shaw said.

“It’s a milestone, like getting your license or being able to drink,” Shaw said.  “Every girl dreams of the perfect prom, dress, date and all. Feeling beautiful at that cliché moment when your parents and your date first see you all dressed up is dependent upon the perfect dress.”

Ashley Merrill, a sophomore who is undeclared, said that girls should donate to the cause because they most likely get more use out of it and won’t wear the dress again.

“People should want to give back, it’s not like it’s a lot of work or a lot to give. It’s an easy way to make a difference,” Merrill said. “It could be a really pretty dress but you just don’t want to necessarily wear it again.”

Gilbert also said donating already worn dresses is an easy and worthwhile contribution.

“It’s a really great way to give back to the community and provide underprivileged teens with a good, memorable experience,” Gilbert said.

Girls being benefited by the drive will not only be provided with a great dress but be inspired to help others as well said committee member Carly Sutter, freshman in first year college.

“Maybe they’ll want to help other people too,” Sutter said. “They will not only be provided opportunity for a good prom experience but be willing to help others in need too.”

Sutter said she believes students will want to contribute to the cause because prom is an event almost everyone can relate to.

“Even though a lot of people don’t have these specific financial problems we would all be able to understand why it would be an issue because prom is an important event in a lot if girls lives,” Sutter said.