[273] Help Teens Defray Cost of Prom Night By Donating Dresses

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Jan. 21, 2011
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081

HELP TEENS DEFRAY COST OF PROM NIGHT BY DONATING DRESSES
MTSU Sorority, Alumna Head Prom Dress Collection Drive for High-School Girls

(MURFREESBORO) – MTSU’s Eta Kappa chapter of the Gamma Sigma Sigma national service sorority will present its third annual Prom Dress Collection Drive from Monday, Feb. 14, through Saturday, Feb. 25.
The sorority is asking for donations of prom dresses for distribution to high-school junior and senior girls who are on the free and reduced lunch programs in surrounding counties. The distribution is slated for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 26, at Calvary Baptist Church, 431 Dejarnette Lane in Murfreesboro.
Dresses must be from 2002 to the present, must be dry-cleaned and on hangers and must be prom dresses, formal gowns or fancy party dresses. Garments that were purchased before 2002 or have not been dry-cleaned, wedding dresses, casual or semiformal clothing and tuxedoes are unacceptable.
Claressa Johnson initiated the prom drive as “Archie’s Promise” in 2009 when she was a senior at MTSU and a member of the Eta Kappa chapter. Still an active member of Gamma Sigma Sigma, Johnson now belongs to the White Rose Alumni Chapter.
A 2009 Hearst Teen survey found that teenage girls spent an average of $220 on a prom dress and $893 total on the prom night experience.
“In 2009, we distributed more than 50 dresses to Rutherford County girls who were on the free and reduced lunch program,” says Johnson. “Last year, we reached an ultimate goal and helped over 100 young women from Rutherford and Williamson counties find a dress for a prom.”
Dresses should be donated at Holiday Cleaners, 911 Memorial Blvd. in Murfreesboro. To make an appointment for donating a dress or to make a monetary donation, contact Johnson at 615-427-1816 or claressa0467@hotmail.com.

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Founded in 1911, Middle Tennessee State University is a Tennessee Board of Regents institution located in Murfreesboro and is the state’s largest public undergraduate institution. MTSU now boasts one of the nation’s first master’s degree programs in horse science, and the Council of Graduate Schools in Washington, D.C., acclaims MTSU’s Master of Science in Professional Science degree—the only one in Tennessee—as a model program. Recently, MTSU unveiled three new doctoral degrees in the sciences.