Sierra Guisinger shops for homecoming dresses with her daughters, Ava Mohr and Lillian and Leala Guisinger, at Saturday’s Diva’s Den event at the Lima Masonic Center.
Jacob Espinosa | The Lima News
LIMA — It was a productive day Saturday at the Lima Masonic Center as 108 dresses left with new owners at the Diva’s Den event, even with an hour still to go.
The Lima Kiwanis Club holds the event to give away prom dresses every spring, but this was the first time holding it ahead of homecoming.
“We had people lined up at 8:30 so we started bringing people in at [8:45],” Diva’s Den organizer Ann Meiring said. “We had lines for our fitting rooms.”
Sierra Guisinger brought three of her four daughters, all Shawnee students, to shop for new dresses both for this year’s homecoming and future ones.
“We love it,” she said. “Everything costs so much now so it’s a big help to come out and let them pick out a dress. It’s a good experience for the kids, too.”
Volunteer Keerthi Merugu said she was proud to help out with an event that took the care to fix the dresses before giving them away.
“I think it’s really amazing how many people they help,” the Ohio State Lima student said. “Because you would think it’s not really a lot of people, but I just think it’s such a nice thing.”
Meiring, who has two daughters of her own, knew exactly how helpful this kind of event, one which has no income requirement to participate, could be.
“This is the first year I took over the event and I decided to do it because homecoming and prom are such rites of passage,” she said. “I know how expensive all these dresses can be so it’s really neat to see people come in and get to shop and feel beautiful. They don’t have to pay any money for them so it’s just a great community service.”
“I’m just really appreciative and I think the kids are, too,” Guisinger said. “It’s a fun experience and I’m glad they’ve opened it up.”
Duffy’s Cleaners cleaned all dresses via donation.
Reach Jacob Espinosa at 567-242-0399.
