Written by Ben Cox – Howard Payne Social Work majors are preparing for the 12th annual Cinderella Project prom dress store tomorrow and Saturday. The event is free of charge, and dresses are provided at no cost to high school girls who would like to attend prom but could not otherwise afford a dress.

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Dresses are donated by area girls who have graduated from high school and no longer need a prom dress, or from current high school students who have bought a new dress for this years prom and don’t need their dress from last year.

The event was the brainchild of former Social Work major Desire’ Kinser, who graduated in 2007 and got a masters in Social Work from Baylor University.

Dan Humeniuk (pronounced human-ick) is the head of the Social Work Club, which holds the event every year. According to Humeniuk, “there’s no eligibility requirements, there’s no questions. The only thing we do is ask them to tell us the name of their high school so we know where people are coming from but that’s about it.”

The club gave away almost 60 dresses last year, and only two or three girls left without finding a dress. The event starts at 1 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. until 2 in the afternoon on Saturday.

The Social Work Club is involved in several events in the area, from the Salvation Army blanket drive in the fall, to Good Samaritan Ministry’s Empty Bowls every spring as well as the university’s prom dress store.

The Cinderella Project is held in the Girling Center for Social Justice, the small red brick building next door to the Academy of Freedom on Austin Avenue.