Rita Bright knows the feeling—maybe better than most. As her son Sheik headed off to his senior prom last year, she says, it brought back memories of her own high school prom, which she didn't attend because her family couldn't afford a gown. That got her thinking about other kids in the same situation.
So Bright, 47, and her friend Ann Oliva, 27, who work together at Washington's Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness, went on a prom dress hunt. They started with Oliva's family and friends in Philadelphia, her hometown. "People were calling, saying, 'I heard you all need dresses,' " says Oliva. "Now I get boxes in the mail, out of the blue." The two began this year's prom season with more than 300 gowns—some of them designer numbers from Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus—which they give away at community centers in Washington. Rachelle took one of them home, and when she goes to her prom at H.D. Woodson Senior High School, she'll look like a princess.
Now that she has presented the dresses to their new owners, Bright says, "I feel so good. There will be some happy girls this year."
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
