I’ve been blogging about the Princess Project who
promotes self-confidence & inner beauty by providing free prom dresses & accessories to teens who cannot otherwise afford them
since fall and now things are getting close to the actual giving season!
On Saturday March 11th, I volunteered at the Princess Project San Diego. This year they are giving dresses at several locations. The main location is at Horton Plaza in downtown San Diego.
My afternoon started by finding the Horton Plaza site. The parking structure is divided into fruit and vegetables. To park closest to the boutique head up to the top level and park in lemons. Once in the mall look up and left for pink.
There’s still time to donate a dress and now is the time to make an appointment if you need a dress or sign up to volunteer at one of the boutiques.
The dress giveaways are in April. March is the time they turn the locations into boutiques. With a goal of 2,000 dresses for this San Diego prom season – there’s a lot to organize.
The dresses which came from donation sites around San Diego, including a drive by NBC 7, are amazing.
Glitter is always good but this much glitter can be overwhelming without organization, so that’s what the volunteers are doing now.
Above we received instruction from Jen Gaston, the PR & Media Chair. I interviewed her for the February 21st post where I found out she’s been doing this since 2009.
Jen knows exactly what to do to turn the space into a beautiful boutique. Our job started with removing the plastic wrap & tags then hang the dresses by size.
Not all the dresses make it to the rack. Dresses that are outdated or damaged are separated out.
As we sorted, another team was decorating the space and organizing accessories.
Once the dresses were hung by size, it was time to tag them.
When the girls make an appointment, they get to try on dresses until they find the one of their dreams. By keeping all the dresses facing one way with a size tag on the same side it’s manageable for volunteers to return the unselected dresses to the racks.
New for this year the short dresses are on their own racks. Unless you’re school has a dress policy, it’s really personal choice if you select a short or long dress.
Above is the crew from my shift. Most of the girls were from a UCSD sorority that helps out every year. When signing up to volunteer you can sign up as a group and work with your friends.
Princess Project is in the following areas
I absolutely believe a dress can build self-confidence because it’s not just the dress the girl receives – it’s the love that came with that dress. From the person who donated the dress to every person that helped get it to the girl, everyone involved shows they believe that every girl is special & deserving of nice things.
Sometimes self-confidence starts when someone believes you’re worth it!
Be sure to follow Princess Project on IG and if you have stories to share about how Princess Project positively impacted you, just let me know. Always room on the blog for princess power!