An Enchanted Charity: ‘Enchanted Evenings’ hosts Prom Dress Event

By: Isabel Barycki

High School Juniors and Seniors girls are provided free prom dresses by Enchanted Evening for the 14th year in a row.

For some girls, prom may seem like a dream due to financial problems. However what if that dream can be turned into a reality? That is precisely what Enchanted Evenings seeks to do for junior and senior girls attending prom.

With free prom dresses Enchanted Evening lifts a heavy burden of money off girls’ shoulders and lets them attend prom feeling confident and beautiful. As prom nears, many girls rushed to get their dresses.

The idea of Enchanted Evening started small with a vision created by a woman named Annie Gilles.

Annie Gilles wanted students to feel like they mattered during their prom. Now, with the help of the community, Enchanted Evening is providing high school girls, no matter their situation, all over Tulare County with prom dresses.

For the past ten years, this event has been held at the Wyndham Hotel during spring. This year, it was held there on Saturday, March 25th with many girls attending.

Attendees of the event were able to pick out a dress with the help of a personal shopper to find their perfect dress.

Girls can then pick out an accessory, either a purse or a piece of jewelry. If needed, girls can get their dresses tailored by one of the many seamstresses at the event.

This year was the first year Enchanted Evening had a committee of 55-plus volunteers.

Melissa Freitas, a committee member and a member of Enchanted Evening since the beginning says that she does it because “I have four children myself and we have always had in our family a need so it was just something that touched us.”

Ever since then, she has gotten her mom involved and now they help keep Enchanted Evening alive.

“We’ve helped 150 girls one year up to 480 girls one year I think just because we can touch that many lives that make us continue to do it,” says Freitas.

Enchanted Evening lets the community help with the event through volunteering and donation of dresses; even girls who once got their dresses at Enchanted Evening help out.

Danielle Soto, a woman who got her prom dress thirteen years ago from Enchanted Evening, says, “I remember specifically what I felt when I received the dress and it makes me emotional and it makes me so fulfilled that I am able to be on the other side of it and I’m able to help girls feel confident and beautiful and excited for their prom.” 

Like some girls, Soto faced financial problems for prom as well. She says “I came here and I remember getting a dress and a necklace and I remember only having to pay for my shoes for that prom.” 

“You don’t know what people go through and some of them are here just to get a prom dress but some of them really depend on this,” says Soto. 

For more information on Enchanted Evening visit their Instagram page @enchantedeveningdress.

This year’s prom will be held on Saturday, May 13 at the Visalia Convention Center. This year’s theme is: Unmask the Night.

Tags: clubs & lifestyles, Isabel Barycki, prom, prom dresses, rangers, Redwood, redwood gigantea, redwood high school, redwood journalism, redwood rangers, rhs, visalia ca