The initial prom dress Violet Gamble chose from Burrell High School’s Bucco Boutique ended up being the ideal one.
“Whenever I took this off the rack, it looked nice,” she said about the white, spring-like floral dress.
Gamble, 17 and a senior at Burrell High School, chose the dress out of 92 available from the student-organized prom dress giveaway held Wednesday.
A few girls visited the Bucco Boutique room, inside the school’s library, after school Wednesday to pick out a free prom dress.
Dresses were contributed by Burrell graduates, staff and students, and individuals in the community, said senior Andi Householder, who coordinated the event with high school librarian Megan Aranyos.
The Bucco Boutique is a clothing closet inside the high school’s library where students can acquire free clothes and personal hygiene products. It opened in 2018.
When students have access to basic needs, they’re able to focus better on learning, Aranyos said.
“It’s grown a lot,” Aranyos said. “I’ve received some grants and larger donations; some kids are in here every day. The point was to help meet students’ basic needs; it’s taking care of their basic needs.”
Some dresses were donated new, even with tags still on them.
There is no stigma among students whose peers use the Bucco Boutique, Aranyos said.
“I have yet to pay full price for a (prom or homecoming) dress,” said Householder, who also was Burrell’s homecoming queen and named “Best Dressed” for the school’s Senior Superlatives. “They’re still beautiful — they’re really nice dresses.”
Householder will be wearing one of the dresses from the Bucco Boutique for Burrell’s prom, which will be held May 3.
The concept of “thrifting” — shopping at places like thrift stores or garage sales for gently used items at discounted prices — is also popular among high school students, Householder said. Thrifting is cheap and easy, she said.
She was thankful for the support and donations from the community.
“It was really cool seeing that outcome,” Householder said. “For the first year, it’s perfect. We want this to span multiple years.”
