The Woman’s Club of Evanston launched a donation drive Sunday to help get Evanston Township High School senior girls ready for prom.
Through March 8, five Evanston locations will accept dresses, shoes and jewelry for the club’s Dreams Delivered Prom Boutique.
“Our goal is that every girl in Evanston should be able to attend her senior prom, and we try to make that dream come true,” program co-chair Beverly Heimann said.
The prom boutique will run at the Woman’s Club of Evanston clubhouse April 8 to 10, serving 30 to 35 girls each day, in advance of the school’s May 18 senior prom.
The number of students who benefit from Dreams Delivered has doubled in the last two years, Heimann said. The club helped more than 80 girls in 2012.
“It gives a lot of girls the opportunity to go,” said Pam MacPherson, student activities director at ETHS. Though Dreams Delivered is not a needs-based program, the program helps lower expensive prom costs for all families, MacPherson said.
The prom boutique has 400 dresses from past years, and the committee hopes to collect 100 more gowns as well as shoes and jewelry, Heimann said. MacPherson said one of last year’s participants wore a dress from the president’s 2009 Inaugural Ball.
At the prom boutique in April, each ETHS girl will be greeted by a personal shopper and enjoy refreshments on the clubhouse sun porch. As girls select prom dresses, seamstresses will be on hand to make minor alterations. The girl will also try on shoes and pick out jewelry and accessories.
“We like to think we have something for every taste and style,” Heimann said. “Everything is free. The dresses, shoes and jewelry are theirs to keep. For the most part, every girl walks away with a dress, and it’s just a great experience.”
Eight ETHS girls, who make up the Dreams Delivered student advisory board, work with the Woman’s Club of Evanston to market the program to students, MacPherson said. Next month, the board will host a fashion show where student advisory board members will model 15 dresses and begin scheduling girls for shopping appointments at the Dreams Delivered boutique, MacPherson said.
Board member Jessica Cooper said Dreams Delivered gives many girls who could otherwise not afford prom the opportunity to go.
“It was an experience to show their classmates that prom is a time where it is about buying dresses, but at the same time to save money, out of your parents’ pocket and your pocket, this is another advantage that you can have,” the ETHS senior said. “It shows that people in our community really do love our school and they do care about students at Evanston.”
