CityView Magazine - Fayetteville, NC
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/647274
CityViewNC.com | 53 JUNIOR LEAGUE OF FAYETTEVILLE Women building better communities 2605 Fort Bragg Road, Fayetteville, NC 28303 910.323.5509 | www.jlfay.org the classes they miss will be made up later in March. When the girls arrive in the suit separate department, where the closet is specifically located this year, volunteers divide the girls into smaller groups. ey try to work one-on-one so each girl can receive individual atten- tion. Girls begin by choosing about four different dresses to try on. At first, some girls are shy. Some may not want to try dresses on, but almost al- ways, one girl will jump right in, and inev- itably, her excitement rubs off. Volunteers help the girls go up or down in sizes. "We don't look at the number, we just say try it on and see," said Jerial. It's only a matter of time before Cinderellas emerge. Depending on trends, lengths, colors and styles, what girls want changes from year to year. Every three to four years, volunteers purge the closet of dresses that won't be selected. ey keep the closet up-to-date and fashionable. Some girls may come in with something al- ready in mind, a longer dress, a shorter one or a certain color, but the largest is- sue Cinderella's Closet faces is sizing. When a girl comes to the closet, she may find a dress, a color, a style she loves, but if it isn't in her size, volun- teers have to remind her to choose from what's available. "We push full-figure gowns," Jerial continued, but those aren't the ones that necessarily get donated in large num- bers. Since the closet is curated solely on community donations, what gets do- nated is what they have. As they try on each gown, girls come out of the dressing room to see how the dress fits in the larger three-way mir- ror. Volunteers help with zippers, of- fer encouragement and reassure them when it's a good fit. It can take some time to find a dress, the schedule allows an hour and 45 minutes for each high school, but the moment a girl finds a dress that's hers, it's magic. Some stare into the mirror. Some cry. "For some of them," Pat Moore, Co- Chair of Cinderella's Closet this year, said, "it's the first time they've had on a dress as a teenager. ey've never seen themselves dressed up quite like that. ey didn't know they could look so pretty and just to see the smiles when a