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Banner Year for Special Prom Dreams

Donated, cleaned dresses top 1,500 through the MW Cares prom dress drive

HOUSTON — MW Cleaners collected, cleaned and delivered 1,564 dresses for its fourth annual MW Cares Prom Dress Drive benefiting Giving Gown Foundation, a nonprofit community service organization that collects donations of new and like-new formal gowns.

“You could count special moments in a person’s lifetime on one or two hands; certainly, one of those has to be your high school prom,” says Mike Nesbit, president, MW Cleaners.

At the Giving Gown Foundation’s event, held this year March 21-24, young high school ladies who are juniors or seniors eligible to attend prom, who otherwise could not afford a dress, are each paired with volunteer “Fairy Godmothers” from the community who help them select a gown, shoes and accessories, the cleaners writes.

“One of my favorite things about Boutique Day is the transformation that we see in our princesses,” says Cassie Miller, co-director of Giving Gown Foundation. “Throughout their time with us, they are shown unconditional love and kindness. We uplift them and teach them that they are beautiful and special just as they are.”

The young ladies not only had an enchanting boutique experience, but also attended a self-esteem seminar, a boutique lunch and received a swag-bag with items to help them get ready.

The gowns were cleaned free of charge and subsequently delivered to The Giving Gown Foundation. This past year has been a tough year, writes the cleaners, “yet customers opened their generous heart and closets and donated more dresses than the former years.”

MW Cleaners also provided onsite seamstresses to help other volunteer seamstresses with alterations during Boutique Days.

Nearly 500 gowns were donated for its first prom dress drive in 2015, it indicates. “The need is especially great this year due to hurricane Harvey’s devastation,” it says. All MW Cleaners locations in the area accepted donations of prom dresses and accessories.

Nesbit, who has been instrumental in community awareness and outreach for more than 30 years says, “Serving others is just a natural extension of what we do each and every day.”

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Holding the MW Cares/Giving Gown Foundation’s Boutique Days banner are, from left, Heather Edmonds and Amber Logan, Giving Gown Boutique board members; Melanie Villeda, MW Cleaners marketing manager; Jimmy James, MW Cleaners valet driver; and, Chuck Haddox, Ron Garrett and Marvin Spanier, MW Cleaners vice presidents. (Photos: MW Cleaners)

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Jimmy James, MW Cleaners valet driver, helps unload beautifully cleaned prom dresses for Boutique Days held March 21-24, this year. During its MW Cares Prom Dress Drive, MW Cleaners collected, cleaned and delivered, free of charge, 1,564 prom dresses for the Giving Gown Foundation. 

Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Dave Davis at [email protected].