Keuka College Wants Your Old Prom Dress

Each year, high school students around the area look forward to their junior and senior proms. But if a student cannot afford to buy a new dress, where can she go to get one?Enter Keuka College and Steps to Hope.The Community Resource Center at Keuka is collecting new and gently worn formal dresses, including prom dresses and bridesmaid dresses, through March 31. All of the dresses collected will go to Steps to Hope in Dundee.Housed in the Dundee Youth Center, Steps to Hope provides free professional attire for job interviews, formal wear, and other clothing and jewelry for women in need.Shelby Harvey, community service coordinator, says there is no restriction on who can come to Steps to Hope for their dress.”The Prom Dress Drive is open to any high school student needing a dress,” said Harvey. “They can either return the dress when they are finished with it, or they can keep it.”Amanda Guzick, a junior unified childhood/special education major, is assisting in the collection of the dresses.”The Prom Dress Drive comes at a good time for Keuka seniors, as they probably won’t have a need for their dress anymore, and this gives them an opportunity to donate it,” said Guzick, who reported that some 40 dresses have been collected.Dresses can be dropped off in the Community Resource Center in the Center for Experiential Learning in Hegeman Hall, or contact Harvey at (315) 279-5661 or via e-mail at sharvey@mail.keuka.edu.