Synagogue prepares girls for prom

DRESS UP CLOTHES- Mikki Dash, center and her daughter Hillary, left, try on dresses with a Prom Prep participant. The event is sponsored by Congregation Or Ami to help girls in the foster care system get all dressed up for the prom. The congregation welcomes volunteers who would like to assist with next year's event Congregation Or Ami in Calabasas teamed up with other synagogues and churches to offer Prom Prep 101 as part of its ongoing commitment to help children in the foster care system, uses the Prom Prep 101 as an opportunity to give back.

Foster girls ages 15 to 18 from the Department of Children and Family Services to take part in making their upcoming prom a beautiful memory. Most of these girls were able to go to their proms because of Prom Prep.

Event chair Debbie Echt- Moxness put out a call for volunteers and dress donations. In response to a congregationwide mailing, Congregation Or Ami's Mureau Road synagogue was overwhelmed with prom dresses, new and slightly used; jewelry; makeup; and endless offers to volunteer the day of the event.

"We told people that Prom Prep 101 was a wonderful opportunity to get involved and make a difference in the lives of foster care kids," Echt-Moxness said. "Our goal was to help make 50 underprivileged girls feel beautiful and special, inside and out. I truly believe that we all come away from this experience feeling blessed and holy for having made someone else feel more whole."

At Prom Prep 101, volunteers signed in, put on name tags and were given a tour through separate rooms of shoes, accessories, and professional makeup artists and hair stylists who volunteered their time and day off to help out.

Calabasas Oaks resident Hedi Gross, who brought her daughter Molly, said, "Nothing prepared us for the emotion we felt when we walked into a room filled with beautiful gowns, broken down by size and color, most with tags still on them. It was awesome. To realize that each girl would feel like Cinderella for the day was simply beautiful and breathtaking. I looked around to see if I was the only one crying, but all the other mothers were wiping away tears at this awesome sight."

Once the teenage girls began to arrive, Prom Prep 101 sprang into action. In the main sanctuary, the girls received beauty tips on what to wear, what not to wear and "the message that our clothing puts out into the world." Escorts were assigned to their girls, blow dryers turned on and makeup applied.

Prom Prep 101 reminded the community about the power of kindness and compassion to transform lives.

Said Gross,"We went there believing we could help someone feel better about themselves even for just one day, but in reality we left feeling like the lucky ones, simply for having met these girls."

Professional photographer Jaime Rothstein volunteered to take pictures of Prom Prep 101. The Calabasas resident talked about the delightful experience photographing the teens.

"It truly was an honor to be part of such a day that puts so many smiles on so many young girls' faces," Rothstein said.

"I am so proud and in awe of all who organized this day for being angels and giving so many girls their wings to fly and feel beautiful and confident and hopeful and loved. I know there is a God because of what I experienced today," Rothstein said.

Judaism teaches that mitzvah (commandment or ethical action) is found in the giving, but the true gift is in the warmth one feels long after the event is over.

For more information about Prom Prep 101 or to volunteer for next year's event, call Or Ami president Susan Gould at (818) 880-4880 or send an e-mail to the4goulds@roadrunner.com.