Prom Dress Drive: A Cinderella Story

Prom Dress Drive

Creators: Daena Menzies &

Lauren Reardonsmith

Concept: To give a girl graduating from highschool who cannot afford the expenses of prom, the chance to attend this once-in-a-lifetime event by providing them with a dress, accessories and helping them with prom fees.

The fairytale "A Cinderella Story" has come to life in Belize City for countless girls this past Spring! Daena Menzies and Lauren Reardonsmith, creators of the 'Prom Dress Drive,' have given young women a gift and memory of a lifetime. This year, they began the first ever Prom Dress Drive in Belize, collecting prom dresses, jewelry, shoes, purses and other prom-related accessories to help girls who do not have the funds to cover all prom-related costs an opportunity to go to prom. "We collect formal dresses and lend them out to girls who need them. When the dresses are returned, we dry clean them and store them away for someone else to use," said Lauren. "The idea came two weeks before prom of 2015 and the outpour of support was overwhelming!"

"Prom is very expensive and we figured out a way to take away some of those expenses," said Daena. Not only did Daena and Lauren receive overwhelming support through the donation of dresses and accessories, but they received generous support from Ms. Lucy Jaramillo and Ms. Ellis at St. Catherine Academy, who came together and helped with prom fees, Ms. Moppy Smith, who hair-styled some of the girls, and Ms. Chi, who was practically "the fairy godmother" of this whole story, is a seamstress who conducted the alterations on the dresses. One dress, in particular, needed very detailed alterations, as the back of the dress was damaged and Ms. Chi was able to transform the dress into a corset-style dress, changing the whole look of the dress into something remarkably beautiful for a girl who really wanted to use that dress in particular.

Daena and Lauren communicated their idea to the school, St. Catherine Academy, and were able to help girls who contacted them directly or girls that the school referred to them. The names of the young girls who wear the dresses as well as where the dresses come from are completely anonymous! This year the Prom Dress Drive was able to collect over 30 dresses and help numerous girls convert their dream into a reality. "Prom is a memory that is going to last a lifetime and we are glad that we are able to make this memory possible," said Daena.

If you would like to donate, please contact Daena at daena83@gmail.com

or Lauren at laurenrs@live.com.