Borrowed gowns ease financial bite of prom
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Writer
HAWAI'I KAI — Kaiser High School's library lends not only books, but prom gowns in everything from black taffeta to pink satin.
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser
These gowns, previously worn by students or others who don't need them anymore, are free to any student who needs a dress for prom.
Kaiser High School Principal Gayle Sugita holds up some donated prom gowns in an office near the school library.
The program at Kaiser started in the spring of 2000 as just the germ of an idea to help students defer some of the costs.
Today, there are 27 dresses, including five donated before spring break and a few that came from the principal, said Lani Solomana, the school's Parent Community Networking Center director and the force behind the idea.
Prom season is a time when parents and students dig deep into their wallets to pay for the clothes, tickets, accessories, shoes, and car for prom night. The amount can easily run to $500 or more.
"It's so expensive," Solomana said. "Some girls were complaining about the cost, especially those who go to two or three proms. You can't wear the same dress."
Most schools have their junior proms in April and senior proms in May. Kaiser's junior prom is April 13, and its senior prom May 18.
"It's a wonderful initiative of Lani's," said Gayle Sugita, Kaiser's principal. "It's been quite successful. Even in tony East Honolulu, where the median income is about $53,000, that kind of money is a stretch for parents.
The gown-lending program is part of Project Maluhia, a character-building educational project that reaches out to students who need help. By mid-May, Solomana said, she hopes all the gowns will have takers.
While the concept is not new, Solomana was not aware of any other Hawai'i high schools offering such a program. Gail Nishimura, Mililani High School student activities coordinator, said she remembered when the central district's student councils collected used prom dresses and sent them to Lana'i for students there.
In Philadelphia, the group Fairy Godmothers Inc. has more than 1,000 prom dresses to lend.
There are dozens of other such organizations around the country, including in Nashville; Puget Sound, Wash.; Atlanta and Washington, D.C.
At Kaiser, the dresses come in straight and slinky, full and swishy. Others are short and perky with ruffled hemlines and sparkly gold sashes.
Students interested in borrowing a dress try on the gown, get their parents' approval and sign a contract saying they'll return it, Solomana said.
It's difficult to get the girls who have taken advantage of the program to talk about it, she said, because there's a stigma attached to needing a hand-me-down.
"In Hawai'i Kai we all have so much, but there are those that don't, and they're very self-conscious about it."
Even girls who are not in financial difficulty borrow dresses, Sugita said.
"Even those who do have money enjoy seeing what gowns there are, and they don't mind the recycling part."
For more information on the program, call 394-1253.
Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com or 395-8831.
