Young foster women receive free dresses
Senior prom is a night for young men and women to enjoy no matter their circumstances. Texas A&M University-Kingsville Department of Psychology and Sociology teamed up with Foster Angels of South Texas on March 29 to host Fit for a Queen to allow more than half a dozen young women in the foster program the opportunity to receive the full prom experience.
“Our organization Foster Angels South Texas teams up with the Department of Family, and Protective Services, and we try to bring some normalcy into the children that are still currently in foster and so an event like this just allows them. We bring organizations to help donate such as Kendra Scott, the Department of Family and Protective Services, BCFS and we all kind of provide something to give them all the things they need to be able to take home with them so they can have a fun prom experience,” Foster Angels of South Texas Heart Gallery Director Jennifer Kremer-Oliva said.
Events like these that impact the lives of young women in the foster program and provide normalcy in their lives don’t happen without an extensive amount of work and collaboration.
“This event didn’t happen overnight, this happened over a course of years. We’ve been doing this prom preparation for our young ladies in care in South Texas for quite some time, and we have a staff at DFPS and our stakeholder organizations that are just wonderful at putting this together every year. The idea is we want this to be a special night for the young ladies who are in the state’s care, and we want to make sure they are outfitted with the perfect dress. We want to make sure they have some photos to take with them, and we want to make sure to get them all the accessories to be the little princesses that they are,” Department Media Relations Specialist for South Texas John Lenan said.
This event takes place every year, but this year for the first time it was held on campus at TAMUK, giving the young women in the care of the state the opportunity to see a college campus.
“I really love that Texas A&M University-Kingsville was able to allow us to come in today on a Saturday so the girls could be able to come to an actual college and be on campus. While they’re here not only shopping for a dress and enjoying a lunch, but they’re able to immerse themselves in a college facility in a college campus, they’re able to walk down the halls and think ‘well you know this could be me one day. I can be here,’ and it could be a possibility they could come to Texas A&M University-Kingsville,” Community Specialist for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services Monica Alaniz said.