Soles4Souls-Prom-A-Thon @ Studio 615

What girl doesn't love the Prom and getting dressed up? Soles4Souls had the opportunity to be involved in XClusive Moments Dress Me Prom-A-Thon on March 27th, 2011 at Studio 615. Over 90 Metro Nashville students were chosen to receive a complete Prom Makeover, including a dress, shoes, jewelry, hair, makeup and professional pictures by a photgrapher. It was quite a day, these young women who normally could not afford a nice prom dress and shoes got to experience the red carpet treatment!
Soles4Souls provides shoes for men, women and children all over the world, and some people might look at this and think that this is not an immediate "need", but if you had been there yesterday, you would understand how very important our role was in this event.
We always say that with shoes, we give HOPE. And I saw that yesterday, I saw HOPE in the eyes of young girls and their Mom's, as we fit them with sparkly prom shoes and ooh'ed and aah'ed over their beaded dresses.

We gave them HOPE...
...that they are special
...they they're worth it
...that they are beautiful and of value to many

I helped one young lady with special needs practice walking around in her high heels, and as we neared the mirror, I made her look up, and see her reflection, her beautiful smile...and I SAW hope.

I was there 7 hours, running around like a chicken with my head cut off....When I left last night, my feet were tired, my body was tired...
...but my heart was full...of HOPE.

And I remembered my first prom. We couldn't afford a fancy dress, so my Great Aunt bought my Mom material to make me a dress. And I was afraid I wouldn't fit in because my dress wouldn't look like the other girl's dresses. We lived in government housing, and my neighbors always sat on the porch, which could be quite embarassing at times when they asked my friends for a dollar...

But my Mom worked so hard on my dress, and the big day came...and my dress was beautiful, all of my neighbors told me how pretty I looked when I came out the front door with my date...and at the prom....although my dress was home-made, it was so beautiful, and different...and I felt special, and I had...

Yep, I had HOPE. And I still do.

Give HOPE to someone today....in whatever way you can...