“Personal resources should not prohibit a student from experiencing a once in a lifetime event,” said Hannah Johnson, Director of the First Lutheran Food Pantry in Clarion. Johnson is referring to the magical night of high school prom. A rite of passage for so many young men and women, attending a prom can be an expensive endeavor. This is a fact recognized by some special people in the community over the last few years. Consequently, there are a couple of unique efforts at work in the area to help make it possible for ALL students who want to to attend prom.
Prom at Clarion-Goldfield-Dows High School will be held April 23. However, several people have been working for the last months to make attending prom a reality for all students. And according to those people, a need for this work is a local reality. “There are so many students at CGD who have missed out on dances in general because they have not had the money for dresses, tuxes, etc.,” said Olivia Huntley, a CGD teacher and one of the women helping with efforts.
Another CGD staff member, Miriam Meinke, has been the one leading the charge. “I definitely see the need to helps students with prom costs, especially for those students who have single parents,” she explained. “Things are so much more expensive nowadays, and I don’t want any student to miss out on their prom because they can’t afford it.”
Passionate about this cause, Meinke and friends launched a couple of prom-related efforts: the Belle of the Ball dress giveaway and the Gift of Prom fundraiser. The first one is an opportunity for girls to obtain a prom dress free of cost. Johnson and the local food pantry are helping with this cause.
“I got the idea when I saw that Coon Rapids had something like this at one of their churches,” said Meinke. “I took two senior girls to pick out dresses. After seeing how many dresses they had, I thought to myself, why drive all the way there when we can have something like this in our own town.”
She then reached out to Johnson at the food pantry who was enthusiastic about the idea of the pantry providing space to make the dress giveaway possible. Johnson noted that the idea aligns with the pantry’s mission as an extension of their motto ‘You Are Welcome Here.’ “The community will help lift you up when you need a hand up, whether that’s food, resources or dresses,” said Johnson.
Meinke and Johnson used Facebook to ask people to donate dresses to the cause. “Within four days, we had over 31 dresses,” emphasized Meinke. “It is amazing to see people come together and donate beautiful dresses that have hardly been worn,” added Johnson.
The Belle of the Ball ‘dress shop’ is currently open at the food pantry leading up to prom. And so far, it’s going perfectly. “The smiles when the girls see the dresses make it all worth it,” said Johnson. Meinke agreed, saying “I love taking the time to do this because it is heartwarming seeing the smiles on their faces after they find ‘the dress.’”
Meinke said that they will still take dress donations at the pantry. She added that she hopes this effort continues in future years. “My goal is to continue with this every year,” she stressed. “I hope people continue to donate their dresses to it, and I hope those students who come ‘shop’ for a dress donate them back after they are done, so we can continue to grow each year.”
People interested in shopping for a free dress at Belle of the Ball must make an appointment by signing up at volunteersignup.org/FEAPQ.
Another special endeavor that Meinke is leading is called Gift of Prom. Recognizing that prom is expensive all-around, even beyond finding a dress, Meinke along with CGD teachers Huntley and Angela Charlson are working to collect funds to help students attend. “We have helped kids through the years with things such as jewelry, hair, nails, makeup, and decided ‘let’s get a group going to help benefit our students in bigger and better ways,’” said Huntley.
In that vein, they have been holding various fundraisers. Meinke led a Zumba class where proceeds went to the Gift of Prom. A rummage sale made up of donated items held last week in conjunction with the Clarion Library raised over $1000 for the fund! (Left over sale items were donated to Gift of Giving).
Meinke added that they will be doing an “Egg your house” fundraiser next week. “On Saturday before Easter, we deliver eggs and place them on people’s yards so their kids can wake up on Easter morning ready to find the Easter eggs,” explained Meinke. You can contact her at 515-293-1466 if you’d like your house ‘egged.’
The Gift of Prom organizers say they have been so impressed with people that have come forward to help this cause. “We have had so many people reach out with donations for this group, and we cannot thank the community enough for everything they have already done for us!,” exclaimed Huntley.
They added that people can still donate to Gift of Prom by dropping off any monetary donations at First Citizens Bank in Clarion.
They also plan to continue their efforts, both with Gift of Prom and Belle of the Ball, in the upcoming years. “We hope nothing but good things come out of these projects,” said Meinke. “We are ready to help any student in whatever way we can so they can enjoy prom, and will continue that in the future.”
