In the News: Making prom dreams come true

As the principal of Green School at Newberg High School, Karen Pugsley knows that attending prom can be too expensive for many students to participate and for a long time has been pondering a solution to the problem.

The high cost of dresses plays a big role in preventing girls from attending, but as a parent of two prom-aged daughters, Pugsley also realized a potential solution may lie in a different, yet equally inherent aspect of prom dresses themselves: that they’re rarely, if ever, worn more than once.

Combined with the success a recent impromptu faculty exchange of unused or unwanted makeup, that was the spark that led to the creation of “Clara’s Closet,” a new prom donation program that Pugsley and a group of charitable Dundee mothers hope will give dozens of NHS students the chance to enjoy the longstanding high school tradition and rite of passage on May 11.

“We’ve been cleaning out our closets,” Pugsley said. “That’s literally what the name Clara’s Closet meant because I was getting those dresses out of my daughter’s closet.”

The group of mothers, who previously were referred to as the Dundee Divas, began performing community service together by purchasing Christmas gifts for families in need about four or five years ago.

The Divas attempt to do a service project for each season, and Clara’s Closet proved to be a perfect fit for the spring and also compelled them to change their moniker to the Fairy Godmothers.

The group decided it would be best to start small this year, aiming to collect 25 dresses, before ramping up the program in future years once the word got out.

Using only announcements in school email newsletters, the Fairy Godmothers have collected 64 dresses, which will be distributed first to students referred to them by the school’s migrant liaison and those in the special education Life Skills program. After that, the program will be open to students that school administrators know are in need.

“I know I’m not the only mother in Newberg that has a whole closet full of prom dresses that I’ve spent a nice chunk of change on,” Pugsley said. “And the chance of my daughter going to college and wearing those dresses is absolutely zero.”

While the program is no longer collecting dresses for this year, it will accept donations, which can be dropped off at the high school or any school office in the district, to get a head start on next year. In addition to dresses, donations of makeup, shoes and accessories are appreciated. Although the demand appears to be smaller, the program may expand to include menswear next year.

The Fairy Godmothers have also been soliciting businesses in the community to defray the other costs of attending the prom, like restaurant gift certificates.

They have partnered with the NHS drama department and some local professionals who have donated their time to do the girls’ hair and makeup, as well as take photos before the event.

One member of the group plans to purchase flowers and create handmade corsages and boutonnieres.

“It’s a completely grassroots project that came out of the community,” Pugsley said. “We have an open mind about it and just want to partner with the community to make it happen.”

With many of their children already grown, the Fairy Godmothers have enjoyed the chance to connect again while taking a trip down memory lane at the same time.

“The cool thing about doing it was that it felt so good that we thought we wanted to do it more than once a year,” member Mary Jane Bachmeier-Swanson said. “It’s for (the students), but it’s more for us.”

By Seth Gordon, Newberg Graphic