Tania Woodward asked me a month ago if I wanted her to donate the prom dresses she has been collecting for years to the female students at Bishop Maginn High School for their prom. I didn’t quite get the power of the idea; I admit, I didn’t grasp the importance of prom dresses to girls at the school and many women in general.

This is the last prom Bishop Maginn will ever have; the school is closing after the dance for good. The Army Of Good Raised $7,000 to plan the best prom the school has ever seen.

Sue Silverstein told me the girls were wildly excited about having gowns they and their families could never afford to wear to the prom. I began to get it – even Maria was excited.

We spread some out over the lawn chairs and Zinnia wanted to get close. She was, after all, last year’s Prom Queen.

This morning Maria and I went to the Mansion to meet Tania, who has a significant and loving heart,  and we stuffed five vast bags of prom dresses into the back of my car, leaving no room for anything but two people upfront.

The dresses, agrees Maria, are spectacular, full of color, glitter, and glam. Tania could never afford prom dresses like this when she was a child, she loved the idea of the refugee children getting them. Some of the other Mansion aides contributed as well.

Maria and Tania were dancing around the gowns like school girls. Sue said I texted photos to her, “oh, my goodness, they are amazing; the girls will love them.”

(Maria and Tania stuffing the prom dress backs into our Rad 4.)

The prom is being set up as a “Casino Night,” which the students are very excited about, what they have been planning for weeks- games, favors, prizes, music, dancing, decorated tables, and great food. Social media being what it is, I need to say that no actual gambling will occur on prom night; all the slot machines give out are coins made of chocolate, and the gambling is all pretend.

The parents are banging together to cook 14 different kinds of food.

This is a bittersweet prom; it marks the last time these children will all be together.

The last few years have been extraordinarily difficult for the students at the high school, especially refugee children who struggled with remote learning. Many of these children have spent most of their lives in refugee camps; they are about to have the prom they always dreamed of.

You might remember we bought laptops for anyone who needed them and enough safety signs and cots and sups for the school to pass the rigid state health department requirements and stay open. But it was never easy for the students, for the teachers.

(Tania Woodward hauling the bags to our car.)

But their school years have been disrupted, at best.  Bishop Maginn has been a haven and safe place for them, the loss of the school a significant blow. The refugee program is moving along with Sue Silverstein and me and Zinnia to a new school being built just outside of Albany.

Scholarships have been offered to any refugee child who wants to go, and almost all of them are. Busses have been hired to transfer the children to and from school.

We had to put the rear seats down to fit all the gowns. There’s no room for Zinnia, who was last year’s Prom Queen. I can’t wait to see the girls get these dresses on Tuesday.