Cinderella story: Garinger High effort gives away free prom dresses

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) – At Garinger High, we heard a sign of spring; the sound of chirping birds. That also means prom season is upon us.

“Either royal blue or purple,” says student Alisha Howard, going through racks of dresses available at Garinger. “Okay yeah, we’ll try this one on!”

These days, finding formal wear isn’t a mere formality when you consider the cost. Cinderella’s Closet on the Garinger campus is a rare retail experience; everything’s free.

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“It’s for prom,” Howard said. “That’s where you’ve got to pop out for real, look nice.”

“I like this one, it fits perfectly!” coming out of the fitting room with a blue dress.

You can’t dance around the truth; the prom can be an expensive endeavor. The cost of going to the big dance is too much for some students.

That’s why school secretary Peggy Shropshire had the idea to open a temporary dress boutique.

“It started out when a young lady that I had been talking with couldn’t go to the prom because she couldn’t afford a dress,” says Shropshire.

In 2023, with Garinger alumni support, Cinderella’s Closet gave out 80 donated dresses, from new to gently used. This year, about 375 are available. A group called Lady Wildcats collected most of the inventory, just in time for teens like Howard.

“I was going through a tough point where working wasn’t matching how I could afford to buy a dress,” Howard told Queen City News.

While the dresses are free, one Lady Wildcat can tell you the chance to make memories is priceless.

“A lot of them would not go to prom, that’s how it really got started,” says Lady Wildcats founder Debbie Thomas, who graduated with the class of ’68.

She’ll forever cherish her prom picture. She wore a homemade dress that wowed her date. Whatever happened to him?

“I married him,” Thomas said with a laugh.

She and her husband Larry have been married for 56 years.

“I just can’t imagine not being able to go to the prom if you wanted to,” Larry says. “Because it was really important to us back then.”

“Really? Aw!” senior Julissa Amaya said of the Thomas love story. “Honestly, that’s cute.“

Because of the large number of donations, students from other schools to Cinderella’s Closet were also invited to choose from the inventory that also included accessories and suits for the boys.

After months of sad news, Garinger could use a boost.

“They’ve had a rough year this year, a couple of shootings; a bad wreck,” said Debbie Thomas. “It’s been a really bad year for them. But it’s fun to see them smile.”

At Cinderella’s Closet, joy is written all over the faces of students.

After a series of troubling headlines, Garinger takes time to embrace the Cinderella stories.

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