Society distributes dresses

A local group hoping to make every girl’s dream date special held a two-day event at the St. Mary’s Fairgrounds in Leonardtown last weekend.

This “free-for-all,” held at the fairgrounds’ Tolerance Hall was a royally noble cause. The Cinderella Society, a Park Hall based organization, spent the weekend giving away gently used formalwear.

Katrina Cropp of the Cinderella Society told Southern Maryland News all the items, including dresses and shoes, were donated.

Holding a one-day event last year, Cropp said the organization gave away between 300 to 400 dresses.

“This is the first year that we are doing it for two days, so we we think maybe we will give away 800,” Cropp said.

The organization, which is not a registered nonprofit and thus does not accept monetary donations, collects the donated formalwear in all three Southern Maryland counties.

“We’re creating a true network,” Brittany Gill, another society leader, said. She recalled that before the COVID-19 pandemic the Cinderella Society was able to do the giveaway at a local library branch.

The event and the volume of donated dresses has grown. The group is currently looking for a larger storage location.

Cropp said much of the inventory is high quality.

“There are designer dresses in here,” Cropp said.

Many of the donations are dresses that were once worn at weddings or other formal occasions.

To learn more about the Cinderella Society, visit their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/smcpromdressdrive.