Glass Slipper Project Donates Prom Dresses

That first year, in 2003, the cleaners collected more than 300 dresses, last year, Zengeler’s eight locations – Deerfield, Hubbard Woods, Northfield, Winnetka, and the headquarters in Northbrook – collected more than 3,500 dresses, f shoes and other accessories, valued at more than $2 million.

The dresses are lined up neatly in a storage facility in Northbrook, awaiting new homes.

Floor length red satin. Strapless with a canary yellow chiffon skirt. Hot pink tea length. Spaghetti straps in blue.

What started 12 years ago as a small project is now a year-long effort for Northbrook-based Zengeler Cleaners. The business collects, cleans, presses and mends thousands of donated gowns a year for the Glass Slipper Project, a nonprofit that gives away free prom dresses to juniors and seniors in the Chicago area who are unable to purchase their own.

This year, the store’s organizers are hoping to collect more than 4,000 dresses.

Over three weekends in April, about 1,800 girls will gather at Price School, 4351 S. Drexel in Chicago, to choose from dresses, shoes, purses and make-up for prom.Set up like a shopping boutique with volunteers who serve as personal shoppers, the girls will have a selection that is likely larger than any department store, said Amy Ross, a board member with the project.

Although the dresses are collected by multiple sources, many of them come from Zengeler’s locations, she said.

Tom Zengeler, president of Zengeler Cleaners, said it started when a customer at the Deerfield store called to say that the Glass Slipper Project needed a source to collect dresses. Zengeler said he realized using his stores as drop-off locations could be a good fit.

“It takes a lot of time,” said Tom Zengeler. “It’s a year-long process. We used to just collect the dresses from now until the end of March. It has become such a big program that we collect the dresses year round and store them in our facility until we make two deliveries.”

Ross said the all-volunteer organization is grateful to Zengeler for helping orchestrate the collection process.

“What I like is that so many people get involved with it,” he said. “They get involved in it for helping people in other communities, not necessarily in our own community.”

[Pictures and qoute courtesy of Chicago Tribune]