Over the past month, the Women of Color (WOC) Affinity Group held their first prom dress drive for a local prom dress exchange drive in Haddonfield, hosted by local real estate agent Michelle Cassin. The WOC Affinity Group received over four full bags of dresses.
“I can’t even begin to explain how happy we were to be able to have this drive this year,” said WOC Affinity Group co-facilitator Makenna Wakahia ’26.
Wakahia explained that the group had hoped to host a similar event last year, but “unfortunately, plans fell through.”
“This year was different; however, because we had [the Upper School Psychologist Julie] Lyons help us find a proper outlet,” said Wakahia.
During the collection period, the WOC Affinity Group left a collection box in Lyons’s office for students to donate any dresses they wished. Collection for the Affinity Group’s event ended on March 5, and the exchange itself was hosted in Haddonfield on March 12.
“Overall, this drive was super important to me, because it showed that even though we are a newer Affinity Group, we can still make a big impact,” said Wakahia.
She concluded that“the drive really hit home with all of our Affinity Group’s key goals, which are to make women of color and all women feel confident and empowered.”
“The drive itself was very successful,” said WOC Affinity Group co-facilitator Arianna Arzu ’26.
“We received over 10 donations, which filled four or five large donation bags. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to count the exact number of dresses we got, since students were able to donate the dresses whenever they wanted,” Arzu continued.
Arzu commented on the significance of the drive, saying that “prom dresses are often very expensive or hard to get, so by doing this drive [they] hoped to help a lot of women look good and feel powerful during their proms.”
“I personally donated eight dresses to the drive because I thought it was a really good cause,” said Aashi Reddy ’26.
“I just had so many dresses that I didn’t need, and it felt good to help out someone who may have trouble getting a good dress,” she continued.
Barleen Athwal ’26 also donated to the prom drive, saying that “helping a girl in need look good at her prom was more important to me than keeping a dress that I don’t wear anymore.”
