Dress Drive Recycles Prom Gowns

Leadership has partnered with the Princess Project, which encourages girls to donate old dresses to those who can’t afford their own. The dress drive at Campolindo was held from February 16 to February 26.

In the past, the school has tried to donate to the Princess Project, but Leadership teacher Dino Petrocco said, “We’ve had a couple of years where we missed the window of time to participate.”

Petrocco said the Princess Project was “an organization we’ve worked with in the past. ” Although not consecutively, he believes “we’ve worked with them for 4 years.”

The Princess Project has helped over 20,000 teens in the Bay Area and beyond since its founding in 2002. The foundation accepts dresses in pristine condition, as well as purses, jewelry, shawls and wraps.

Everything from dresses to accessories are then passed on to underprivileged girls for free.

Leadership did not aim to donate a certain number of dresses, because they only “want to contribute to the organization,” said Petrocco.

Leadership drops off the donations, and the dresses are then distributed with the help of over 2,000 dedicated volunteers to high school teens in San Diego, San Francisco, Silicon Valley and Tracy, who might not otherwise be able to afford a prom dress and accessories.

Dress donations were accepted in room E9.

Petrocco originally wanted to hold a “dress swap” at Campolindo, because “those dresses are extremely expensive.” A dress swap would allow students to trade dresses for prom or homecoming. However, he was not able to do so, and instead, found the Princess Project.

“Other than throwing the idea out there, the students did everything,” said Petrocco. The head of the philanthropy board, senior Fiona Stewart, managed the program for the Leadership class.