On Saturday, April 21, Princeton High School (PHS) junior Carter Haughton and PHS senior Liz Haughton will travel to McDowell County in West Virginia with a glamorous cargo — a selection of high school prom gowns.
The goal of their project, PromDreams, is to provide dresses for up to 140 girls at high schools in the poorest county in the state of West Virginia.
To make sure that there are enough dress sizes and styles to provide a measure of choice from which the girls can select, the sisters have set out to collect 200 dresses.
Last year they distributed 125 dresses from friends and family (and another 22 purchased with cash donations) to girls in Whitley County, Kentucky's poorest county. With their father, Dan Haughton, and a few friends, the sisters drove 12 hours each way to deliver the dresses. Every senior girl who otherwise could not afford a prom dress received a dress.
"Our friends were very generous with their donations last year," said Liz, "but our supply now is very limited and we are asking the broader Princeton community to help make this year's trip as successful as last year's."
Inspired by their parents, who distributed over 200 prom dresses to Whitley County, Kentucky girls in the early 1990s, the sisters chose the poorest county in West Virginia.
"Like our parents, we wanted to focus on helping girls in Appalachia since the poverty there is more concentrated than in any part of Northeastern America," said 16-year-old Carter.
Their choice of location was informed by two events. Carter recently read in English class, the New York Times bestseller, The Glass Castle, a memoir by Jeannette Walls, telling the story of a young girl growing up in an impoverished family in Welch, the McDowell County seat.
The sisters were also moved by a recent sermon delivered by the Reverend Jim Sell, interim Rector at Trinity Church in Princeton, who coincidentally began his ministry in McDowell County, describing the abject poverty he found there.
After learning on the Internet that McDowell County has the lowest average income in West Virginia, the Haughton family contacted the McDowell school superintendent. "His response to the PromDreams project was very positive, especially since we wanted to help girls in all three of the county high schools," said 18-year- old Liz.
"I'm very proud of my daughters," said Mr. Houghton, who moved to Princeton with his wife Nell just two months after the couple married. He is from Alabama and Nell is from Richmond, Va. "The good thing about PromDreams is that it's something that they are both interested in and enjoy doing," he said.
"We try to make sure that every girl goes home with a pretty dress," said Carter. "Last year, some girls who were self-conscious about their bodies found dresses that were flattering and left very happy."
"I'm really excited to be doing this again this year," she said. "One of my teachers at the high school has donated pageant dresses from a friend."
"Last year there were 70 girls and only some of the dresses were formal but this year almost all of the dresses will be gowns," said Carter. "Last year when we arrived with the dresses, it was a little awkward at first but once the girls start trying them on, they really got into it and it was a lot of fun. One girl last year looked just like the Little Mermaid in her dress."
Carter's most memorable experience was finding the right match for a thin girl with long strawberry blonde hair whose mother, a very tough critic, had rejected everything her daughter tried until a dress was found that was very low cut at the back with a feather boa trim. "Her daughter looked extraordinary, like someone from Hollywood," Carter recalled. "Her Mom started to cry, thanking us through her tears."
So far, Carter and Liz have 35 dresses. They are in contact with the McDowell school district to get the sizes of the girls to make sure there have at least two dresses in each size, so that everyone has a choice. "When my Dad first did this almost 20 years ago he didn't have all the dress sizes. So that some girls were not left out he went out and bought dresses. Now we know how important it is to have the correct sizes," said Carter. "A few stores such as David Bridal have offered to sell us dresses at reduced prices and we've bought some from the church rummage sale."
Donations
People can help by contributing a dress they no longer need, by buying a dress at a store or thrift shop, or by making a donation to PromDreams. One hundred percent of all donations will be used to purchase dresses and donations of money and dresses are tax deductible, with the receiving schools providing tax receipts.
Long and short dresses will be accepted, but long dresses are preferred, and larger sizes (16-28) are particularly needed.
"The idea of "PromDreams is to make young girls prom dreams come true," said Carter. "A dress that's sitting in someone's closet and may never be worn again could be the same dress that changes a McDowell County girl's life forever on her prom night."
The deadline for contributing dresses (which will also be distributed at Trenton High, as last year) is Wednesday, April 18. For more information, email promdreams@yahoo.com, or visit www.princetononline.org/promdreams. The PromDreams website contains photos and information about previous dress events.
"This is a project that is very close to our hearts," said Carter. Will Carter Haughton be going to prom this year? Prom night is in on June 2, the night before her SAT exams. Tough decision.