I recently meet Dawn Schultz when she was invited to my Murrieta Nafe meeting as a guest by Nafe Member Kathy Bundy who is VP of Southern CA Volkssports.
Did you go to your PROM? Or where you one of many who did not have a gown so did not go? I was one of those that did not go as I grew up in Foster Homes and Children’s homes so never had toys and was on my own at 14 so never had funds for gowns. So when I heard what she did I said “Wow this is something my Nafe Community could get behind and touch a life so I asked her to come speak for my Menifee Nafe network.
When Was It Founded?
Operation Prom Girl So Cal is a quickly growing community outreach that is on a steady roll since the very first event in the spring of 2014. Founded in Wildomar, a small town in the Inland Valley Empire near Lake Elsinore, they will be having their third event on April 2, 2016 and expect a multitude of young ladies from many areas with hardships and other special circumstances.
What Is It?
Operation Prom Girl is a community based organization that provides prom dresses/formal gowns, shoes and accessories to high school girls, Military Wives, and women with financial hardships or unusual circumstances.
While the prom dress is the main attraction the real goal behind what we do is to promote inner beauty, self love, acceptance and worth. This group accomplishes this during their annual dress give away event for High School girls as well as throughout the year for those special Military Balls, or other formal events.
How We Got Started and Where Are We Today
In December 2013, as Dawn stood in my kitchen surrounded by boxes that needed to be unpacked from her recent move from L.A. and a 20 year stint as a full time makeup artist, she thought about her oldest daughter and how she wanted to give her and her youngest, the very best in life. She remembered those very tough high school years with her, peer pressure, bullying, trying to fit in, popularity, dances and proms. When she was not able to financially send her daughter to prom someone stepped up and made prom possible. What a blessing and a dream come true!
She then realized there were probably high school girls in her community who have special circumstances or hardships and prom isn’t a reality for them. She had this vision of collecting prom dresses and sending these girls to prom, while inspiring them to love and value themselves. (***At first she was planning on having just a little garden party in my small home)....The reality is you can put on a fancy dress and shoes, have your hair/makeup done, look put together on the outside and be broken on the inside.
She calls it living behind the Mask, hiding while chasing the unattainable Hollywood standard of beauty, and being whoever “you” want me to be. She thought to herself if I could just talk to these girls if they only knew their value and worth their life would be different. Dawn was motivated to share love and hope with the girls in her community.
She held their first Operation Prom Girl event in April 2014, for local High School girls with hardships or circumstances that were preventing them from going to prom. She did not have bells and whistles just her and a handful of volunteers with willing hearts. Every girl that attended left with a prom dress.
Last year, God brought her a dedicated administrator and event coordinator, Linda Harris, and they are now preparing for our 3rd Annual Operation Prom Girl event on April 2,2016 at a the Mountain View Church in Wildomar (OPG 2016). Our dress donations and shoes are coming in, and have taken over her rental home! Their volunteer meetings continue to grow; but they still have many needs. We have a full program planned with speakers, makeup tips and tricks and a luncheon with desserts. The attendees will leave with a dress, shoes, goodie bags, and resources and referrals. All at no charge!
Dawn is in the process of expanding this to a year-round service in the future they want to create classes and offer other opportunities. If you would like to get involved please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
As always, we rely on community support and our faith in God to make this event a success and expect at least a 50% increase in attendees over last years' numbers.
Their dress drop offs now include both private residences AND businesses in our amazing communities. Most recently, we have a dress drive at Camp Pendleton forming. Below are the drops:
In order to support the rapidly increasing number of attendees at this year's Operation Prom Girl event that will be held at Mountain View Church venue, the founder Dawn Schultz is having a RUMMAGE SALE on March 4&5, and she is looking for donations of resalable items to support the necessities for an event that we project will serve approximately 100 girls.
Mothers/guardians are also welcome to attend the event and receive their own dose of love and encouragement! For those who would like to volunteer or apply to attend, we have a registration page set up at opromgirl.wordpress.com
Dawn feels it's important to let people understand that all it takes is a willing heart to move forward with dreams and visions. Many people might be called to do missions and ministries in foreign lands, but there is always a ministry here in our own backyards and we don't need to look far to find one. There are many out there who need genuine love and to be shown they are cherished.
We are just two regular girls who try to keep the faith in the good times and maybe not so easy times. Their Facebook and Instagram pages, as well as opromgirl.wordpress.com
