Annie Sullivan is all set for her prom night.
She was all smiles yesterday after buying the perfect dress for a fraction of what it would usually cost at a shop. She found it at a fundraiser gown sale in the former Rapers building on Mooney Street.
"I really like this dress," Sullivan, 16, of Winston-Salem said of her teal cocktail garment.
Her mother, Linda, also liked the price.
"She's got a teenaged sister," Linda Sullivan said. "We can't afford to go out and buy two $400 dresses."
Anna Gazmarian and Anna Katherine Barker, both 17, organized the "Gown Girls" sale, both to help girls afford gowns for their high-school proms and to raise money to buy clothes for children in West Africa. The two are students at Calvary Baptist Day High School.
Proceeds from the dress sale will go to Challenge Farm, an orphanage in Kitale, Kenya, that was founded and is directed by Cheri Thompson of Winston-Salem. The 10-acre farm is home to more than 100 children.
The two teenage organizers started the gown sale yesterday at 8 a.m. -- an hour earlier than planned -- because of a line of at least 50 people eager to get to the dresses that were selling for $10 to $30.
When it ended at 5 p.m., the sale had raised about $3,200, the two girls said.
"It's been neat to see all the girls come in and buy a prom dress for (only) $30," Barker said.
Gazmarian and her family have been working with the orphanage in Kenya for the past four years.
She decided in September, after her last visit to Kenya, to find a way to buy outfits for the children at Challenge Farm who typically have just one set of clothing and a uniform to wear.
"Up to this point, they've always been getting like old T-shirts," she said. Gazmarian got the idea for the gown sale during a brief stint on the prom committee at Calvary Baptist Day High School when she learned how expensive proms were.
She said that some of her friends were paying $100 to $300 for prom dresses.
"With this economy right now, a lot of girls can't afford those dresses," she said.
Barker, Gazmarian's friend, agreed to help her with the fundraiser.
"I loved the idea," Barker said.
The friends received help collecting dresses from other girls at Calvary Baptist Day, Reynolds, Mount Tabor and West Forsyth high schools.
Winston-Salem retailers Wild Flower, Monkee's and Etc. Consignment Shop, also donated merchandise.
Rebekah Averett, 15, of Lewisville bought two garments, one of which she planned to wear to a wedding in May.
"It's for a good cause," her mother, Dianne Averett said of the fundraiser.
Sisters Allison Hall, 17, of Winston-Salem and Kelly Hall, 19, of Asheville stopped in at the sale to help support Gazmarian, a friend they grew up with, and the Challenge Farm.
Kelly Hall said she didn't have a special event planned but loves to wear formal dresses.
"I just think they're works of art," she said.
fdaniel@wsjournal.com | 727-7366
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