Cinderella knows how it feels to be the girl without a dress for the ball. She also knows there are other girls who have felt it, too. Therefore, she is opening her closet so that every underprivileged girl can find the prom dress of her dreams.

In reality, a Cinderella doesn’t exist, but luckily, there are real-life fairy godmothers in the form of DiAnne Armstrong, Elizabeth Treto, Maykeling Ortiz, Irina Taranenko and Feuy Saechao who are helping disadvantaaged girls get a prom dresses through a dress drive called Cinderella’s Closet. It started Monday and ends Saturday.

These five students were instructed to select a group project for their Sacramento State Communications 105 class and after considering several options, decided to go with the dress drive.

Armstrong said they were required to decide on the project topic as a group, present a proposal to their professor, Nick Trujillo, and assess the risks involved with the project.

She presented the Cinderella’s Closet idea to the rest of the members who all decided it suited them best and did not run a great risk.

“He (Trujillo) encouraged us to make it meaningful,” Armstrong said. “So we wanted our project to mean something.”

The dress drive will collect formal and cocktail-style dresses, shoes and accessories to be donated to high school girls who qualify.

Armstrong said they chose to run the program this week because it allowed people the chance to get their dresses from home over the Thanksgiving holiday. They also wanted it to take place before finals week, she said.

Since the start of the project, each member of the group has colorfully decorated a box to be placed at the drop-off locations: the Sac State library circulation desk, University Union, River Front Center, fifth floor Mendocino lobby and Cinderella’s Closet in the Second Hand Rose boutique at 1120 Fulton Ave.

“It’s each of our own personalities on a box,” Armstrong said.

Although things are running a lot smoother now, she said, it did not start out that way. Once they decided to organize a dress drive as their project, they had to go through great lengths to find out how.

Armstrong said she heard about the program a while back, but could not find any current information on it when she searched “Cinderella’s Closet” on Google. They finally found the information when her boyfriend, John Patterson, happened to go into the Second Hand Rose boutique, she said.

They discovered Cinderella’s Closet is operated locally by Jewish Family Service, but is also honored in other states,. Anyone can host a dress drive by visiting http://www.jfssac.org/cinderellascloset.

The group enlisted the help of people not related to the assignment, including Carol Loew, the director of Second Hand Rose.

“Carol has been such a big help and is really nice,” Treto said.

Another helper is Jed Koenigshofer, a member of the communications class who is not in the group but is collecting dresses from Oakmont High School in Roseville.

“He’s not even getting a grade for the project and he still wanted to help,” Armstrong said.

For other students interested in helping, they can donate new or gently used, clean dresses at any of the drop-off locations through Saturday. Donors can also donate any time at the organization’s designated local businesses: Second Hand Rose, Arden Plaza Cleaners, The Lily Pad, Madame Butterfly, The Party Concierge and Newbold Cleaners.

Junior nursing major Stephanie Hurley plans to help the group reach their goal of 50 dresses.

“I have a prom dress from every year of high school,” Hurley said. “So I definitely want to donate and make a difference.”

Tygenae Harris can be reached at [email protected]