Rose Mary Garcia and Denise Camp are helping high school students find gently used or new prom dresses at no cost. Donators include Texas A&M sorority members.
Former Classmates Help HS Students
Princess Project In Central Texas Provides Prom Dresses
By CHELSEA KATZ The Eagle
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Ten years ago, Bryan High School classmates Denise Camp and Rose Mary Garcia had an idea that began when they heard stories about people in other communities helping out those who wanted to attend prom.
"I tend to hold onto dresses that I wear — formal dresses — and I know at that time I had at least four or five that I had worn one time and (was) guilty of not wanting to get rid of them. I thought, 'They're just in the closet, so why not see if someone else can get some use out of them?' " Garcia said about developing the idea for the Princess Project of Bryan-College Station with Camp.
The Eagle reports The Princess Project helps high school juniors or seniors find a new or gently used prom dress at no cost. The project is not a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, just something Garcia and Camp decided to do, Garcia said.
When the project first started, they had between 50 and 75 dresses for people to try, all coming from Garcia's and Camp's closets and some outside donations. Now, they give away about 10 times that number.
They had more than 600 dresses, some even with tags still on them, when this season kicked off earlier this month.
"It has grown exponentially every year. It gets to be bigger and bigger," Camp said, adding it is fun to see more people in the community and Texas A&M sorority members get involved.
Every dress is checked when it comes in to make sure it is in good condition and is a current style, and every dress is free to the girl who selects it. There are no applications — the only qualifying factor is that the girls be a junior or senior enrolled in high school. The students do not have to attend a school in Bryan or College Station to shop at The Princess Project.
"If they're willing to drive to us and they're a junior or senior currently attending high school, then we would love to help them find their perfect prom dress," Camp said.
Garcia knows how much girls put into their look for homecoming, prom and Sadie Hawkins dances.
"That's a lot of money to spend, and sometimes the parents are struggling already, but they want to do what they can and for their kids to make the high school days memorable," she said. "This is our way of helping a little bit for our future, for their future, to make those memories happen. It's a great feeling."
Garcia said her favorite part is seeing the smiles.
When Janet Gonzales went prom dress shopping with her daughter Emily in 2017, they went to the typical stores to look for formal dresses and found a couple of options.
"Being that we were going to wear the dress one time, I was not looking for anything that was going to be expensive, even on clearance, because I just didn't have the money to spend on that," she said.
Then, knowing they could take back the dresses they had found, Gonzales and her daughter went to The Princess Project.
"She found two dresses that she just fell in love with. She wanted both of them, but she could only take one," Gonzales said with a laugh. "She looked like a princess, and she felt like one."
After fixing her hair and makeup for prom, Gonzales said, those senior prom pictures are ones she thinks her daughter will "cherish forever" because she had found the perfect dress.
Perfect for Gonzales as well, as she got her money back on the other dresses they found.
"It was great to see the smile on her face, to see her excited," Gonzales said about the moment Emily found her perfect dress. "She didn't go to her junior prom or anything, so this was her last one, and she was going with her boyfriend and all the rest of her friends, so this was kind of like her last hurrah. It just made me really happy to see her so happy."
Gonzales described Garcia and Camp as big-hearted to provide this service for girls in the community.
"It really does mean a lot to these girls and to the parents to not break the bank on doing something so special for their child," she said.
Students who go to The Princess Project with a specific style and color in mind might leave disappointed, but those who come just wanting to find a dress that looks good on them have success, Garcia said.
"As long as you have that open mind, you're going to find a dress," she said.
Sometimes, students will come back multiple years or will come with a sibling or friend after getting their own dress. Some will find a dress their junior year and then come back the next year to re-donate their junior dress and find a new one for their senior prom, Camp said.
"It's just a blast seeing the girls find that perfect dress, and you can just tell when they come out and it's the one," she said. "They've got that look on their faces like, 'This is my dress.'"
One year, they helped a student who had high medical bills after being airlifted to a hospital following an injury during an out-of-state basketball tournament, Camp said.
"It just put her parents in a position where $400 for a prom dress was kind of out of the question because they had had all these medical expenses, but they still want their daughter to go to prom. They want her to have that experience," she said. "She had completely recovered and (was a) lovely young lady, so then you hear stories like that and then they find that dress. It just brings it all full circle. It's just a culmination of everything wonderful happening at once."
Prom might not be a life-changing event, Camp said, but it is an experience many people remember fondly, like she does, and they want to help people go if they want to.
"We would never want anybody to miss their prom. It's kind of that penultimate event of high school," she said. "You have prom and then you have graduation, then you're moving on with your adult life. There's plenty of time to worry about money and all that stuff later. We want at least take a little bit of that burden off of parents and/or their students or their kids and let them have a good time with that being one less thing to worry about."
The Princess Project's season has four remaining Saturdays: March 23, March 30, April 6 and April 27. Each event will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 18544 Anasazi Bluff Drive in College Station.
"It's just like going into a store, except in my garage, and it's all prom dresses," Camp said.
Students must bring a current student ID to show they are enrolled as a junior or senior in high school.
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Information from: The Eagle, http://www.theeagle.com
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