COURTESY PROJECT SELF-SUFFICIENCYSophie Ilaria, left, and Isabella Ilaria, center, hold up donated prom wear with Project Self-Sufficiency employee Michelle Michaluk, right. Students at Gill St. Bernard's School in Peapack-Gladstone hold gently-used formal wear that they collected for Project Self-Sufficiency, an area organization which assists low-income families in Sussex County and Central Jersey.

Young women from the Gill St. Bernard's School in Peapack-Gladstone have banded together to collect gently-used formal wear to donate to Project Self-Sufficiency, a local organization which assists low-income families in Sussex County and the surrounding area.

Project Self-Sufficiency will be hosting a "Sister-to-Sister" Prom Shoppe in April for agency participants, who will also be eligible to win other prom-related services. Gill St. Bernard's School is an independent, nonsectarian, college preparatory day school for students from pre-kindergarten through grade 12. The school currently enrolls 677 students from 11 counties in New Jersey.

The "Sister-to-Sister" effort is the brainchild of 16-year-old Isabella Ilaria who recently raised more than $3,000 for Project Self-Sufficiency to purchase materials for its new day care center.
"For years now my closet has become filled with the fancy dresses I have worn to semi-formals, bar or bat mitzvahs, proms or Sweet Sixteen parties," Isabella said. "Most of these dresses are still in great condition, but are now too small or I have no reason to wear them."

Project Self-Sufficiency will coordinate a Sister-to-Sister event in April, during which the dresses will be donated to agency clients, along with the opportunity to win other prom-related services.

"This is an easy and wonderful way for young women to help other young women," said Dee Slade, Isabella's mother. "These girls have to stop and think about what it would be like to not be able to afford to buy something that would make them feel beautiful. These are beautiful dresses which will make some other girl feel happy on their special night. We are very grateful to Gill St. Bernard's for being so enthusiastic and allowing us to do this."
Peter Schmidt, Upper School director at Gill St. Bernard's, added, "As part of the responsibilities of citizenship, Gill St. Bernard's School encourages its students to take initiative in creating and carrying through service projects which benefit others in our communities. Some of these projects are ongoing and involve students on a regular basis throughout the school year. Others, such as the collection of formal dresses for 'Sister-to-Sister' which Isabella Ilaria suggested, may only occur once during the school year.
"Isabella's project is wonderful in its simplicity. Rather than wearing a dress once to a dance and then having it retired to the rear of a closet, pass the dress on to a young woman who will pridefully wear it for her dance. This first collection brought in donations of 20 dresses. We plan to make this an annual project at our school and look forward to increasing the donations in the future."