Group makes prom dreams a reality

Girls who might not be able to afford dresses are able to choose gown, matching accessories

danielle nadler/viewDeiasha Clark tries on a pink evening gown during the inaugural Boutique Day, put on by The Prom Fairy Foundation at UNLV?s Houssels House on April 4. Advertisement

Local high schools may notice an influx of junior and senior girls dolled up and ready to cut a rug at prom this year.

About 70 high school girls were invited to shop for a dress, shoes and accessories on April 4 so they could attend what for many of them is their first prom.

The girls shopped at a Boutique Day, put on by The Prom Fairy, a new nonprofit group that collects new and gently used dresses to be given to underprivileged high school girls.

A dozen volunteers transformed the Houssels Building at UNLV into a boutique shop for a day. Necklaces, bracelets and purses were neatly displayed in one room. Hundreds of shoes lined a table in another, surrounded by racks of dresses. The girls made appointments from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. to shop with a volunteer.

Natalie Winslow, of southwest Las Vegas, started The Prom Fairy in December with the hope to help teen girls have their special night out. Winslow, a product of a single-parent family, said she knows what it's like to have little. In high school, she took a job at McDonald's to earn money to buy a prom dress.

"I've been there, and I've never forgotten the people that helped me," Winslow said. "I always wanted to do something to give back."

Carmelita Ramirez, a senior at Silverado High School, had not thought much about prom because of the inevitable price tag attached to the event. Then she heard from a friend about The Prom Fairy.

"I thought it was too good to be true," Ramirez said as she browsed through the racks of donated dresses. "If this wasn't here, I probably wouldn't go to prom. I definitely would not get the dress I wanted."

Elizabeth Hinojosa, a senior at Desert Pines High School, said she did not attend her junior prom because of the cost. She and her friends have plans in the works for this year's prom.

"I heard about this, and now I'm excited to go," Hinojosa said. "It will be fun to go and hang out with friends, dance and have a good time."

North Las Vegas resident Gwen Prince waited outside a dressing room while her daughter Melanie Breaux, 17, tried on dress after dress at the Boutique Day.

"With all the expenses of senior year, I was trying to figure out how we would fit it all in financially," Prince said. "For a single parent, this is so helpful."

Breaux decided on a blue satin gown with matching shoes and jewelry. The Advanced Technologies Academy senior plans to go to prom with a group of friends.

Ramirez, who said she also will attend prom with friends, found a long gown, shoes and jewelry.

"I'm excited to just have fun, and in years to come, I want to hold on to that memory," she said.

Winslow and her two friends, Robin Howe and Pam Jackson, who also are co-directors of The Prom Fairy, said they expected to receive a couple hundred donated dresses to be able to help out a handful of girls. Instead, they received about 700 dresses, more than 300 of which were new and donated from local dress shops that downsized, Jackson said.

"The response was awesome," she said. "It just shows that people are still willing to help out others."

The Prom Fairy handed about 200 of the donated dresses over to other local charities and will hold on to the others for next spring's prom.

Contact Southeast and Southwest View reporter Danielle Nadler at dnadler@viewnews.com or 224-5524.