Local

Teen helps girls dress for the prom

Ned Andrew Solomon | Catholic News Service

Mariel D’Andrea, a sophomore at Father Ryan High School in Nashville, Tenn., operates the Becca’s Closet charity from her house. Her family used to attend St. James Church in Falls Church before moving to Franklin seven years ago.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Although Mariel D’Andrea’s first high
school prom is a year away, the Catholic high school
sophomore has a closet full of prom dresses, shoes and makeup
— all the necessary trappings for that special occasion.

Well actually, none of these items belong to her. They’ve
been donated to D’Andrea for her Becca’s Closet initiative, a
national program with local chapters that collects donated
formal wear and accessories and makes them available to girls
who can’t afford to buy their own.

It all started three years ago, when D’Andrea’s mom, Jo Ann,
read the Ms. Cheap column in The Tennessean daily newspaper
about a girl in Franklin, Caroline Davidson, who was
collecting and giving away prom dresses through her own
Becca’s Closet chapter.

“We e-mailed her, and said we’d love to help out in any way
we could,” said D’Andrea, who is a student at Father Ryan
High School in Nashville. “We didn’t hear back from her for a
year. Then she e-mailed us, said she’d kept our e-mail and
that she was graduating and needed someone to pass this on
to.”

The D’Andrea family used to live in Falls Church, where the
children attended St. James School. They moved to Franklin
seven years ago, but still keep in touch with many of their
friends in Virginia.

Becca’s Closet originated in Davie, Fla., in 2002, when a
high school freshman, Rebecca Kirtman, launched a drive to
provide prom dresses to disadvantaged high school girls.

During the spring of her sophomore year, Kirtman
single-handedly collected and donated more than 250 formal
dresses throughout south Florida. Tragically, the 16-year-old
Kirtman was killed in a car accident that same year, but her
vision continues through other girls’ efforts across the
country.

“We thought it was a great thing that we’d like to get
involved with, but we didn’t know how much work it was going
to be,” D’Andrea told the Tennessee Register, newspaper of
the Nashville Diocese. “We also didn’t realize how many
people it would affect, and how many great people we would
meet.”

Davidson packed up all the dresses and shoes, and delivered
them to the D’Andreas’ house. Jo Ann and Mariel unpacked them
upstairs in their attic workout room.

Word about D’Andrea’s effort has spread through people who
come in for dresses and those who donate them.

“It’s kind of a touchy thing,” she said. “Some girls may be
embarrassed about needing to get a dress from us, so we try
not to make it too public. And they know we’re not going to
say anything. We’re not here to judge, just to help.”

Her “clients” visit from all over Tennessee and beyond,
including many from Kentucky. Those who are hoping to get a
dress have to call or e-mail D’Andrea to set up an
appointment. The family tries to schedule those meetings two
days a week, until about seven in the evening. There’s no
financial eligibility to get a free dress; it’s all on an
honor system.

“I guess I always took for granted that everyone could afford
a prom dress,” said D’Andrea. “But many girls can’t even
afford their prom tickets. So us helping them with a dress is
a huge deal.”

For more info

Information about Becca’s Closet is available on the
organization’s Web site, Becca’s Closet.

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