Group donates hundreds of prom dresses to Harrisburg girls
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Cinderella Project, a group based in St. Louis, Mo., came to Harrisburg High School Thursday to donate 450 prom dresses to students who are still recovering from last month's devastating tornado.
Diane Wolferding, of the Cinderella Project, said the group collects dresses to give to high school students in the St. Louis, Mo., area who may not otherwise be able to afford to go to prom. This is the third year they have held the event and they collected around 5,000 dresses this year.
Because they had so many leftover dresses, they decided to donate some to Harrisburg girls in light of the recent disaster.
"We know how that impacts a community," said Wolferding.
This is the first time the group donated dresses to high school girls outside the St. Louis, Mo., area, but they hope to continue providing that service to towns affected by similar disasters.
Wolferding said they are planning to take 400 dresses to Joplin, Mo., as well.
High school teacher Janet Hart is organizing an event for students to come try on and pick out a dress. From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 13 Harrisburg High School students are invited to come to Davenport Gym in the high school to pick out a free prom dress.
"We plan to set it up like a little boutique," said Hart.
Hart said two other groups are also donating dresses for the event. Fairy Glam is a group based in St. Louis that plans to bring more dresses April 13, and Prom Relief for Harrisburg, which is a conglomeration of local churches and businesses, is also donating dresses.
Hart said all students are welcome to come pick out a dress, regardless of whether or not they were personally affected by the tornado.
"I'm encouraging all girls to come down," said Hart.