“Dressed for Dreams” was a project conducted by Lake Park students, Liliana Alarcon (LP ‘28) and Gracie Pendola (LP ‘28). A main purpose of this project was to help all students comfortably participate in school social events such as the annual homecoming dance regardless of financial ability to afford formalwear. This program was designed to help the seventeen percent (442 students) of Lake Park students who may have difficulty affording proper attire for special school events.
The idea for this project came when Liliana and Gracie decided they were going to be DECA partners and were trying to come up with an idea that had to do with community giving. They were able to figure out that most people only wear their homecoming dress once which helped them lock in this idea. So preparations and planning began in late June and early July. They started with an Instagram account where they posted facts about homecoming dresses.
When school started they began more in-depth planning especially since they had only a short time to get this project all organized before homecoming. The two students partnered up with a local shop in downtown Roselle called Little Red Ribbon Boutique. With this partnership they were able to have a donation box set up where people could donate gently used dresses. In return they would be entered in a raffle to receive a Jelly Cat from the boutique’s inventory. They also planned donation days, two days at East Campus and two days at West Campus. During these days they had a photo booth that they charged two dollars for, which helped raise 150 dollars. The raised money helped cover any expenses such as raffle prizes, and last minute gift cards in case a student was not able to find a dress in the donated collection.
By the time Homecoming arrived they distributed 142 outfits and received a 94% student satisfaction rate.
After reflecting back on the project Liliana and Gracie thought it was a successful fundraiser.
“We were able to affect 25% of the 442 students by being able to provide them dress wear for homecoming, so I think we made a really big impact on Lake Park,” Liliana said.
Although Liliana and Gracie had a successful first year one change that they would make is starting sooner.
“If we could go back and do this again, I think we would definitely already have a plan in place at the end of the school year, in May, to allow us to have a lot more time to work since we were definitely under a time crunch,” Liliana said.
In the end, the “Dressed for Dreams” project successfully helped students in need, and Liliana and Gracie are hoping to bring this back again in the future.
