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Bless with a dress
Photo
Katie Rickman | The Vindicator. Katie Rickman | The Vindicator Megan Factor, a senior at Canfield High School and a member of the National Honor Society, looks through dresses donated to benefit Diva Donations.
By JoAnn Jones
CANFIELD
Megan Factor, a 17-year old senior at Canfield High School, said she considers herself very fortunate to get a new dress for a prom or for a homecoming.
At the same time, however, she also realizes other girls aren’t as fortunate as she.
That’s why Factor chose to collect dresses to donate to Diva Donations of North Lima as her senior project for the National Honor Society. Diva Donations, which is headed by Kristin Bodendorfer, was originally created to ease the financial burden so that girls could attend special-occasion dances.
“As Diva Donations has grown,” Bodendorfer said, “we’ve received numerous wedding dresses and bridesmaid dresses, and we began to think of those special occasions as well. We loan between 120 and 135 dresses a year, give or take.”
“We don’t sell the dresses because we don’t want them going back into closets,” Bodendorfer said.
And Factor decided she wanted to get those formal dresses out of closets and into the hands of young women who could really use them.
“I’d been thinking about doing this since my freshman year,” said Factor. “Fashion is a really big part of my life, and I like to look my best. Knowing these dresses are going to make someone else’s night really special is really rewarding. It’s so sad and unfortunate when girls aren’t able to purchase a dress, and they can’t have a special night.”
As seniors in NHS., Factor and her fellow members choose a service project to help someone in the community. Their adviser, Tim Wensel, who also is a math teacher at the high school, approves and oversees the projects, she said.
“We fill out a very simple form describing our projects and stating our goals,” said Factor, who is the secretary of NHS. “Some of the kids just go above and beyond what we’ve ever seen with our projects. Two guys did Coins for Kids, two girls put on a blood drive, and some people went out into nursing homes.”
“Then, when we’re finished,” she added, “we fill out a summary report, basically telling what we did, whom we impacted and how we grew as a person.”
Factor was able to collect some dresses at school from students, but for security reasons, the public wasn’t able to enter the high school, Factor said. For that reason, she contacted Pastor Susan Brown and staff members of the Canfield United Methodist Church to see if she could collect the dresses there. So for one week in February, she spent 4:30 to 7:30 every day at the church waiting for people to drop off dresses, shoes and even jewelry.
“The church was a more convenient location, too,” she said. “WFMJ and WKBN ran a story on it, and I put it on social media. Most people who brought things in said they saw it on TV or on Facebook.
I have to say a big thank you to the church people because they were so accommodating and very generous with their time and space.”
While collecting dresses at school every morning, Factor set up a table with fliers and banners, along with clothes racks on which to hang the dresses. She was able to collect about 25 that way, she said, and she even got help from her classmates.
However, when she set up at the Canfield United Methodist Church, she got a lot more. “I should have over 100 when I’m done,” Factor said with a smile. “I donated four of my own dresses.”
“I don’t know the majority of the people who have come in,” she added. “I’ve gotten a steady stream of people. I’ve had a couple people from Mineral Ridge and about three or four from Austintown.”
As it turned out, she did better than expected at the church. She collected 128 dresses.
Lisa Franco of Canfield donated to Factor’s project.
“It’s been going on six years since this dress has been in my closet,” she said as she dropped off a dress at the church. “I wanted to do something with it.”
Diane Holt, also of Canfield, came to the church to drop off shoes.
“These shoes were worn all of two hours,” Holt said. “My daughter wore them for homecoming.”
According to Bodendorfer, Factor contacted her through email and offered to conduct a dress drive.
“I had the privilege of meeting Megan,” she said, “and what a wonderful, sweet girl she is. I met her after her dress drive, and she exceeded our expectations.”
Factor is the daughter of Lori and Joe Factor of Canfield. She has a brother, Michael, who is in the eighth grade. She is no stranger to community service. Factor has volunteered at the YSU Summer Festival of the Arts, which her mother organizes, and for her church, St. Charles of Boardman.
“I haven’t had one set of things that I do,” said Factor, who will attend college at either YSU or Miami University of Ohio in the fall. “I go wherever I’m needed and help out.”
Factor said she likes working with people and wants to pursue a career in public relations or another area where she can manage events.
“These are areas where you’re representing well who you’re working for,” she said. “It’s making sure that people are happy.”
Factor also is involved at Canfield High School, where she is president of the all-female One Octave Higher ensemble and president of the Drama Club. She also participates in the Chamber Ensemble, a mixed choir, and she also is on the speech and debate team.
Before she graduates, Factor can know that she made some girl — or maybe several girls — happy.
“It’s rewarding to know I can make a difference in some girl’s life, even just for one night,” Factor said. “You know where these dresses are going. They’re not being dumped off at a thrift store. The people who donate them know the dresses will be cherished.”