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On certain Saturday mornings, second-floor hallway outside Suite 205 of the Woodlawn Pointe Community Center on the West Side full of shoe racks, handbags and teenagers.
Inside, every inch of space is filled with some 2,000 prom dresses and shoe boxes lining one wall.
Ashley Johnson, founder and president of the non-profit organization Project San Antonio Prom Dressesrunning from inside the suite to the hallway and back as she greeted and gave directions to the teens looking for dresses for their special night.
In the midst of all the movement, Johnson saw a dress a teenager had just tried on and was holding up on a hanger, and his attention went from the dress to which of the 200 pairs of shoes on the rack were the right size, color and color. style to pair with him.
When Johnson’s stepdaughter Brittany began planning her junior prom in 2014, she was reminded of her own high school prom in 2002 when she had to balance school and a part-time job at Six Flags on the weekends to pay for her expenses. . Although Brittany decides to postpone prom until her senior year, Johnson is moved by the memory of her prom experience.
So many kids can’t go [to prom]said Johnson, adding that some teens are skipping this rite of passage because of the cost of attending.
A 2015 survey conducted by Visa, the most recent data available, shows that Southern families spend one $544 on average on prom night, and a dress is one of them most expensive item from a long list of prom costs.
With this in mind, Johnson and her husband, Rodney, decided to set up Project Prom Dress to provide teenagers with formal attire at no cost to their families. They expanded a few years later to provide formal suits and other dresses and gowns and increased their availability for homecoming, graduation, banquets, or any formal school event.
A similar venture in New Braunfels started in 2018 when Serena Morris, a teacher at a junior high school, noticed some of her students were skipping prom because of costs.
There are children who need clothes and can’t afford them, Morris said during the event Princess 4 Nights a three-day pop-up event in March at the New Braunfels Westside Community Center, which distributed more than 200 gowns over the weekend.
More than 100 students from 22 high schools attended the March event to find their prom outfits, a big jump from the first iteration of the event which was attended by 15 students from the two high schools.
For next year, Morris hopes to create a more complete experience for students by providing meals and snacks as they search for dresses along with hair styling and gift cards.
Yazmine Aguirre, a high school student from IDEA Mays, visited Project Prom Dress with her mother, Naomi Aguirre, and 3-year-old sister, Elleora, in April to find her prom dress.
As other teens flocked to the gown, Aguirre patiently waited on a stool halfway down the stairs for her turn. She quickly browsed the racks, grabbed an eye-catching gown to try on, and found the perfect bejeweled gown to wear to her masquerade-themed prom in May.
Johnson’s help getting Aguirre ready for prom doesn’t stop there.
After learning that Aguirre wanted to get her nails done for the event, Johnson created a post on the NextDoor app, an app for connecting with neighbors, looking for a nail technician to sponsor Aguirres’ manicures.
Michelle Sauceda, owner and nail technician at Nailed by Shellresponded to a post offering to sponsor a total of four girls nails, including Aguirre, who got a set of bejeweled French tip nails to match her dress.
Every girl deserves to feel beautiful on her special day, says Sauceda. Aguirre’s aunt Jessica does her hair and makeup.
Aguirre is one of 1,000 Prom Dress Project youth have completed in the San Antonio area since its inception nine years ago, according to Johnson.
Project Prom Dress has no plans to stop making prom dreams come true for San Antonio teens. If the organization can get the funds for it, Johnson wants to get a van to do an off-site pop-up event to bring Project Prom Dresses to various communities in the San Antonio area.
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