Gowns4Grads seeking formal wear donations

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With every great celebration comes the monumental task of finding the perfect outfit.

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For a decade the Sherwood Park Elks have helped students in Grades 9 and 12 dress their best for graduation without the barrier of cost. Returning for the 10th year, Gowns4Grads and Suits4Guys is setting up shop to accept donations and help graduates say yes to the dress.

Holding events on the weekends of Feb. 15 – 16, March 1 – 2, March 15 – 16, March 29 – 30, April 12 – 13, and April 26 – 27, at BGC Strathcona (Unit 123, 2016 Sherwood Drive) from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., community members are invited to drop off donations while students are invited to shop the existing collection.

With six weekends scheduled for students to shop the selection of more than 800 donated dresses and around 300 suits, the Elks are seeking donations of gently used formalwear. Hoping to add another 200 dresses to their collection, member and spokesperson for the Sherwood Park Elks Leonard Shain said they are especially looking for donations in larger sizes.

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“When it comes to the blazers, we are always looking for bigger blazers. There are a lot of guys who are really slim but then you’ve got some football player style of guys,” said Shain, adding that women’s plus sizes are also in demand.

Open to any graduating student seeking formalwear, Gowns4Grads isn’t just for students unable to afford the price tag of a new outfit, though the idea was born out of learning that the cost of formal wear had become a barrier to students attending graduation.

“What we heard is some weren’t attending their graduation because they couldn’t afford to buy that dress or buy that suit,” said Shain. “We did this in 2016 and (a student) said it was one less student loan she needed next year when she went to university… One said; ‘Well now that I get a free dress, I can go with my friends in the limousine. I had to choose one or the other.’”

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Partnering with BGC, the program is run by members of the Elks lodge and serves students from all over central Alberta and beyond, having also provided dresses to students in a fly-in First Nations community in northern Saskatchewan. In fact, Shain said the Elks have even helped to dress parents attending their child’s graduation.

“We collect dresses and suits and we give them to students — and we don’t ask questions. We don’t ask if they can afford to buy their own, we don’t ask any questions other than how did they hear about it,” said Shain. “It might be that you want to save the environment because now you don’t have all these dyes… It might be that you can afford it, but why buy a dress and then only wear it once.”

Typically outfitting between 70 and 120 students a year, the program has inspired other Elks lodges around Alberta to begin doing the same, allowing the different lodges to trade stock and support one another.

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“All of us do this for that smile on the face,” Shain said.

As for the dresses, there’s quite a selection.

“We have the big poofy dresses and we have the tight-fitting ones. We have long ones right down to the floor and we have short ones. Because everybody is a little bit different in what they want. So, we just try to keep a little of everything so that everybody can hopefully find what they’re looking for,” said Shain.

The Sherwood Park Elks are accepting donations of shirts, blazers, pants, ties, and dresses at each of the designated shopping days, however those unable to attend are encouraged to contact the Elks to arrange an alternate time.

For more information visit Sherwood Park Elks on Facebook or contact [email protected]. You can also follow event updates on the Sherwood Park Elks Facebook page.

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X: MacLeodTheodora 

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