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Once upon a dress…

One year ago this month, Sarah Dupree and Shelton Jones began brainstorming. They knew they wanted to create a positive experience for young girls but didn’t know exactly how.

It started with a single e-mail sent to 200 of their friends. Before long, strangers with armfuls of dresses were lining up at Dupree’s house.

Three months and a thousand dresses later, Dupree, Jones and their husbands found themselves at a high school prom.

“I was totally unaware of how—I mean, it was hardcore,” Jones says, still searching for words. “The young men were wearing tails, hats, canes. And all in white.”

Dupree cuts in. “Shelton’s not from Baton Rouge,” she says of the San Francisco native. “And I went to a school that didn’t even have prom.”

Jones laughs. “That’s why she’s doing this!”

“This” is the Cinderella Project, the nonprofit Dupree and Jones started last year. The organization provides prom dresses to high school juniors and seniors who might otherwise be unable to afford them. The co-founders’ excitement is infectious.

Do you own a fancy formal dress that’s been taking up space in a closet since the one time you wore it? Do you think it might make some lucky girl feel like a princess?

Now’s your chance to make that happen.

You can donate your formal dress to the Cinderella Project, which helps girls unable to afford a dress to attend their spring formal in style.

From Jan. 17 to 25, the Cinderella Project will collect donated dresses at the area’s eight YMCA branches. The program also maintains a permanent drop-off location at Appletree Storage, 10560 ?Perkins Road. Dresses can be dropped off during regular business hours.

The rules for dress donations:

• Dresses must be age-appropriate and suitable for a high school student to wear to a spring formal.

• Dresses must be in style,? in excellent?condition and purchased after 2003.

• Dresses must be prom dresses, formal gowns or fancy party dresses (long or short).

• Dresses must be on hangers and dry-cleaned.?

The organization has attracted dozens of supporters and volunteers. Partners were not solicited—businesses simply wanted to help.

“With other nonprofits you don’t always get to see the direct result,” Dupree says. “This is something you know is making a difference.”

Last year the Cinderella Project dressed more than 400 girls who qualify for the federal free lunch program. Although the organization originally focused on Istrouma High School, the number of donated dresses escalated, and the offer was extended to other schools.

Dupree and Jones looked across the philanthropic landscape—San Francisco has a similar Princess Project—and made their organization more school-centric, teaming up with the East Baton Rouge Parish School System to cater to the girls’ needs.

“All of our schools have students in poverty, and without the Cinderella Project they might not attend the prom,” says Sonya Gordon, a spokeswoman for the school system. “Self-esteem is the No. 1 thing these girls walk away with. It’s almost an accessory to the gown.”

This year the project has its sights on all 17 local public high schools. With 1,000 eligible students, the bar is set at 6,500 dresses so every girl has her pick. The rest are donated to other groups, including the Salvation Army.

Donations come out of grass-roots efforts by local organizations that sponsor their own dress drives, such as the Baton Rouge chapter of The Links Inc. Member Rose Hudson spread her excitement for the project and collected 35 dresses.

“There’s a special place in our hearts for these young ladies,” she says. “It’s great for them to know that the community is there for them.”

In September the YMCA hosted a week-long drive, bringing in a thousand dresses.

“It was right after the hurricane,” says media coordinator Kristen Hogan. “So for the response to be a thousand dresses in one week, we were really excited.”

“Everyone remembers their prom,” Jones says. “Everyone remembers exactly what their hair looked like, their date’s name, their dress. It’s this tangible way they can contribute. Something about these dresses holds an enormous sentimental value.”

The subject makes her nostalgic. “I thought about my prom as an opportunity to look back at my accomplishments and then forward to whatever the future could be. I think prom symbolizes that hope, and all girls should have that hope. Considering that we have jobs, kids, no paid staff—this is truly something Sarah and I are so passionate about because we know that it means a lot,” Jones says.

A lot more than just a dress, that is.

“It’s the most heartwarming experience. One of the girls’ grandmothers came up and gave me a hug. She didn’t have to say anything. She just hugged me,” Jones says. “It’s an immediate impact that we can make on these families.”

At this year’s two-day event in March, an army of volunteers will transform three Sheraton Convention Center Hotel conference rooms into a dress boutique, complete with personal shoppers, Macy’s gift bags, makeup artists and individual dressing rooms.

“No more PVC pipe dressing rooms,” Dupree laughs. “We really just want to take the stress off the girls in the community… let them feel like a teenager for one night.”

Bubba Willis, Sheraton general manager, donated the space. “We thought it was an ingenious way to help a lot of people, and in a way that doesn’t require too much effort but makes a big impact on someone’s life,” he says.

After combing through a rack of dresses, Belaire High School junior Lakita Hartford landed on a white empire-waist gown with a sheer overlay. It wasn’t the first she tried on, but she knew it was hers the second she saw it.

“It’s great that girls who aren’t capable of getting a prom dress get to make that dream come true,” she says. “It really is like a Cinderella story.” cinderellaprojectbr.org