Donate Your Prom Dress to a Good Cause

A Bed-Stuy woman wants to make sure every local girl gets her shot at prom queen.

Bernice Foster Malone started The Brooklyn Prom Project as a way to give secondhand prom dresses to girls who could not afford their own, and this year she’s hoping to dole out hundreds of them.

“Prom is a rite of passage, its part of being a teen,” said Malone. “I’m sure a student’s self-esteem is affected if she can’t go — it must be really tough not to be included.”

Malone said she got the idea for the Prom Project after deciding to teach her 7-year-old daughter, Taylor about community service.

Last year was the first time Malone gathered the dresses, and she received 200 from locals and businesses.

This time around, she hopes to expand beyond the six schools in Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and Bed-Stuy that she worked with in 2010. She also is planning sponsorship deals to help boys get their hands on a tuxedo if they can’t afford one.

In fact, Malone is so dedicated to the project that she pledged to drive to someone’s house to pick up an old dress if the person couldn't make it to any of the drop-off locations around Fort Greene and Bed-Stuy.

 “Just one dress is all it take to make one girl happy,” she said.

Although Malone had to concede that she wasn’t sure if her old prom dress would make a girl too happy.

“My mom still has my dresses. I have to find them — though I don’t know if anybody would want them,” Malone joked. “But it felt good going, prom was awesome.”

Prom dresses can be dropped off at three locations: Deluxe Hair Gallery at 704 Fulton Street between Greene and S. Portland avenues, Tin City at 366 Lewis Avenue between Macon and Halsey streets, and House of Art at 373 Lewis Avenue at Macon Street. Call 877-329-9953 or email brooklynprom@aol.com for more info