Dress sale helps pay cost of prom bids
WEST MILFORD. The high school Interact Club raises $800 with sale of donated dresses at deep discounts.
| 15 Mar 2023 | 12:08
Senior Daphne King, left, and junior Sara Melendez try on dresses at the Cinderella Project dress sale, organized by the West Milford High School Interact Club. (Photos by Kathy Shwiff)
Sophomore Megan Seidner, right, co-president of the Interact Club, holds a dress to advertise the sale. She is helped by Abigail Scully, 7, daughter of one of the club’s advisers.
Shoppers look through the donated formal and semiformal dresses at West Milford High School.
Dresses are displayed in the high school’s lower media center.
About 200 dresses were available at the Cinderella Project dress sale, organized by the West Milford High School Interact Club, on March 4.
In addition to helping students find prom outfits for $30 or less, the Cinderella Project dress sale made it possible for some classmates to attend the big event.
The prom costs $130 per person this year, said Alison Scully and Charline Buongiorno, co-advisers to the West Milford High School Interact Club, which holds the sale.
The event raised $800 and sold 75 dresses, they said this week.
About 200 donated dresses were collected from the community, including from former Interact Club members, who donated their dresses after the prom.
The club, which is sponsored by the West Milford Rotary Club, has held the sale for 10 years.
The 50 members also take part in other community-service activities, such as Smile Train, which provides cleft-palate surgery to children in other countries. In addition, they hand out hot chocolate at the township’s Christmas tree lighting ceremony and collect items for food pantries.
On March 4, sophomore Megan Seidner, the club’s co-president, and others took dresses to the wrestling competition, which was going on at the same time in the gym, to advertise the sale.
Their announcements brought in customers, she said, adding that a blue dress her friend had been holding later was bought by a wrestler.
About 30 members of the club worked during the sale. Among them was senior Angelina Roccisano, who also helped organize the dresses before the sale because she had a free eighth period, the last period of the school day.
It was interesting to see what shoppers chose, she said. “When people walk in, you see their face light up because they get excited about how many dresses there are.”
There was a steady stream of customers after the rush at the 9 a.m. opening, Roccisano said.
In addition to students looking for dresses for prom and the middle school semi-formal dance, people were shopping for clothes for parties, weddings and other occasions.
The advisers recalled that last year, a woman bought several dresses for her 60th birthday party because she wanted to change clothes during that event.
When people walk in, you see their face light up because they get excited about how many dresses there are.” - West Milford High School senior Angelina Roccisano, member of Interact Club