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Canfield senior girls spearhead dress drive
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Neighbors | Abby Slanker.The Canfield High School senior class girls collected 221 prom dresses, plus accessories, for local girls in need of a dress for their high school prom and other spring formal school dances. Organizers included, from left, (front) Sarah McGraw, Ellie Rafoth and Casey Flanagan; (back) Nicole Vlajkovich, Gina Speziale, Marla Marucci and Kathryn Bernard.
By ABBY SLANKER
With the help of the community, Canfield High School staff and fellow students, the young women of the Canfield High School senior class collected 221 prom dresses from March 7-30, to help fill a void for those in need of a dress for their high school prom and other spring formal school dances.
The dress drive also included the collection of purses, jewelry and dozens of pairs of shoes.
Local teens at the Rescue Mission, Sojourner House, Children Services’ Girls Home, Project Hope and Parent Pathways (in conjunction with Youngstown City Schools) will benefit from the collection.
According to Kathryn Bernard, junior class adviser and art teacher and Nicole Vlajkovich, student council adviser and math teacher, the senior class girls took this project and ran with it.
“The idea for a dress drive came up at a recent staff meeting and it was suggested we do it next year. We thought it was a good idea and wanted to put it in place this year. Once we suggested it to the senior class girls, it was a couple of days and we were up and running,” Bernard said.
“The girls took to Twitter and Facebook and visited homerooms to promote the dress drive and before we knew it, we had dresses coming in,” Vlajkovich said.
To show the senior class girls that they were really into the collection, too, Bernard and Vlajkovich brought in their old prom dresses.
“We had to track them down, but we both donated our prom dresses to this very worthy cause to show the girls we were committed to this project as much they were,” Bernard said.
Bernard and Vlajkovich are both very proud of the senior class.
“We reached out to our local community first and found a need for prom dresses. All we had to do next was put a bug in our senior class girls’ ears and they ran with it. They are learning about giving back to the community with this project and I could not be prouder of how they handled it,” Bernard said.
“Our girls were handed an opportunity to give back to the community and I am so proud of them and what they have accomplished in such a short time,” Vlajkovich said.
This was the first year for the dress drive and the senior class girls have motivated the junior class to hold the drive again next year.
“This is our first year holding the dress drive and we will keep it going every year and it will get bigger and better,” Bernard said.
Any remaining dresses and accessories from the dress drive will either be donated to Fairy GoodMothers, a non-profit organization that provides free dresses to young girls in need all over central Ohio, or will be held to give away to local young ladies in need for the Fall Homecoming dress season.
The dresses will be shipped to Fairy Goodmothers courtesy of a donation from the junior class and student council. The Pilolli family, owners of the Canfield and Austintown UPS stores, have also provided a donation toward the shipping of the dresses and accessories.
“We would like to thank the staff here at CHS. They donated quite a few dresses and we really appreciate their support. We also received dresses from the parents of past students, which was really amazing,” Bernard said.