Say Yes To the Prom Dress underway

By Bela Antonio

Prom season is underway and New Beginnings Windsor is here to help find your perfect dress.

Windsor high schoolers are now able to pick any dress they want because of an event called Say Yes To The Prom Dress.

New or used dresses are donated for local young women to come and pick out a formal gown for their prom and graduation.

Windsororite Chantelle Gabrieau, who is planning to donate to Say Yes To The Prom Dress believes this is a perfect way to make girls feel more beatiful and confident about themselves.

“Women need to uplift each other and have each other’s support,” said Gabrieau. “We need to focus on the positive things each other have to offer.”

Gabrieau feels this will bring the Windsor community together.

“I think that this event will shine a light on how great our city is,” said Gabrieau. “Windsorites are amazing, we have so much to offer. I’m glad to be a part of this community”

Mary Kay Morand  is the executive director at New Beginnings and feels this is not just about dresses.

“The event has developed over the years to become a way for youth to feel good about themselves, to increase their self-esteem, promote diversity and positive image,” said Morand.

“For us it is not just about the dress. We have information, activities and handouts all geared toward positive youth development.”

When this event started in 2008 they did not have as many dresses to giveaway. Over the years things have changed and more donations have been coming in. Last year they had 1,500 and this year they topped it.

According to Morand, this event started because they felt the need to help out young women in the community.”

“These females were unable to participate in important rituals such as high school prom or Grade 8 graduation because they could not afford the cost associated with these events,” said Morand.

“New Beginnings strives to advocate for inclusion with all youth so we became active in finding ways to ensure every youth could participate.”

This week they received 200 dresses from the OPP who had their own dress drive to help out with this event.

Dresses that have been donated to Say yes to the Prom Dress at New Beginnings (Photo by Bela Antonio)