One of my intentions for Lent was to seek out opportunities to serve others. And, last week I had the opportunity to help out The Fairy Godmother Project at Define Studio. I got an email from the studio announcing that they would be canceling two Saturday classes so that The Fairy Godmother Project (FGP)could host their annual Shopping Day.
FGP collects donated dresses from all sorts of places (perhaps a mother donates her daughter's old prom dress or a former bridesmaid gives away her old dress). Then, the organization takes these donated dresses and gives them to girls who need a dress for prom, graduation, or any other special occasion.
The Friday night before the shopping day, we got to sort out the donated dresses. Sifting through clothes with other volunteers can be an incredibly entertaining ice-breaker. For instance, one lady next to me picked up a gold dress with sparkles and asked for an opinion. Needless to say any outdated, stained or inappropriate dresses were placed in another pile. The cool thing about the project is they also have a resale shop. So if they end up with nice evening gowns that don't end up being matched with a girl, they will put it in their store and the proceeds go back to the nonprofit. By the end of the evening, we were prepped on how to personal shop for the girls and had the place set up like a cute little boutique.
Since we were providing these girls a boutique experience, I showed up wearing a nice black dress and heels. It was so fun to meet the girls I'd be helping. There was huge range of emotion: excitement since it's the end of senior year, fun because this is probably the first time any of these girls tried on formal dresses, and awkwardness since a lot of them were definitely out of their element. I'd forgotten how much our opinions on what looks good changes over the years. Not only were they able to pick up dresses for prom and graduation, but they also had free hair and make-up consults and got free shoes, handbags, make-up bags, make-up, AND accessories. These girls were very excited and so grateful.
It was so fun to spend an afternoon "shopping" with these young ladies. And, I'm sure they look forward to wearing their selections in the coming weeks.
My next do-gooding adventure will be with Dress for Success this weekend. Hopefully, it will be another enjoyable time of service.
Photo Courtesy of seanmcgrath on Flickr
No comments:
Post a Comment