When 14 year old girl scouts Devin Mauriello and Rebecca Greenman took on the challenge of doing their silver award, they started what will hopefully be a yearly tradition of Gowns for Girls.
When brainstorming ideas on what to do for their silver award with their respective mothers Mary Mauriello and Debbie Greenman, the two friends decided to do a mass dress exchange. The girls would try to collect as many used dresses for formal occasions as they could. They would then host an event where they would give the dresses away for free to people who couldn’t afford them. They decided to name this project Gowns for Girls.
When looking for advice on how to go about doing this successfully, the girls got in contact with Laura Murray who, assisted by Phyllis Piano, had hosted a yearly Dunellen Prom Dress Exchange in the past. Murray and Piano supported the girls and their desire to take over the event and dedicated 30 dresses from their function to Devin and Becca’s cause.
On top of the 30 dresses donated, the two managed to collect 47 dresses on their own around town. The majority of these dresses were gathered on May 2, 2015 when the girls hosted a mass collection day,
In order to get the word out about the exchange, Devin and Becca hosted a photoshoot. They gathered several girls from various grades, Devin’s older sister Samantha and her friends supplied hair and makeup, and the girls modeled the dresses they collected and the pictures were posted on an Instagram account (gownsforgirls@instagram).
On top of the photoshoot the girls posted fliers at local establishments publicizing their upcoming event and gave out free water bottles with gowns for girls labeling.
On May 16, 2015, the day of the exchange, the girls set up all the collected dresses in the Fellowship hall of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, with mirrors, a changing room, and snacks for those who came to look through the dresses.
In total, 30 dresses were given away which was triple their original goal of 10 dresses. Overall the girls consider this an overwhelming success.
In fact it was so successful they are planning to resume the exchange next year.
If anyone is interested in looking into more about gowns for girls, you can look up their Instagram account or if there are any questions, the girls can be reached through their email gownsforgirls@gmail.com.
