Clothes for change

Princess Project Club holds drive for sexual assault survivors

Co-founders of the Paly Princess Project Club Ashley Meyer and Kaila Chun originally envisioned a club that would collect and provide prom dresses to those in need. However, they encountered a problem when COVID-19 hit. With prom being cancelled, the dress drive was no longer relevant.

Rather than giving up, the club took their goal in a different direction — towards the Grateful Garment Project, an organization that works to restore dignity to sexual assault survivors.

Among other new projects, such as putting up posters promoting body positivity and holding a drive for hygiene products, the club has focused on collecting items for the Grateful Garmen Project.

The club, working to expand its reach, donated over 70 items to the Grateful Garment Project during the fall semester, according to Meyer.

“This project aligned with our values such as empowering women, so we thought it was perfect,” Meyer said.

Executive director Lisa Blanchard founded the Grateful Garment Project as her capstone project to get her undergraduate degree from Notre Dame de Namur University. The project collects clothes and puts them into kits to provide to sexual assault survivors after they go through a forensic examination. In this examination, the individual’s clothes are often taken and bagged for evidence. Often, these survivors are sent home in paper-thin gowns, similar to napkins, according to Blanchard. This is where the Grateful Garment Project steps in.

“It “One single thread is not [the goal so strong, but as we come of the Grateful Garment Project] is to restore dignity to together, all these groups those who had it stolen through some form and people and students of sexual violence and to help change the world,” Blanchard told Anthro Magazine. and everybody, we be- Now, the project has grown into six programs that are accessible to 96% of come much stronger col- the California population and involve aslectively.” sistance programs such as counseling programs and law enforcement, according to Blanchard. — LISA BLANCHARD, founder of the According to Blanchard, community Garment Project efforts such as the Paly Princess Project’s drive are necessary to keep the Grateful Garment Project running. “It’s just like a rope,” Blanchard said. “One single thread is not so strong, but as we come together, all these groups and people and students and everybody, we become much stronger collectively.”

Prom makeup & accessory drive

(February 22 - April 22)

The Paly Princess Project Club is working with the Boys & Girls Club to collect new makeup, jewelry in good condition, nail polish, and makeup remover. These items will be distributed by the Boys & Girls Club to high schoolers who need them for prom. Donation drop off locations are in the tower building and in the library hallway.