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Project Prom

ELCA Youth Gathering plants seed for community service

Prom dresses replaced acolyte gowns at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Salem, Ohio—but just for a few weeks.

That closet was the only place where so many dresses could be hung, explained Sarah Brobeck, a member of Holy Trinity and a junior at Salem High School. Brobeck and four other teenagers returned from the ELCA Youth Gathering last July determined to make a difference in their community. During Sunday school class, they settled on a project they dubbed “Project Prom.”

Some 60 girls at Salem, Ohio, area high schools were able to go to their spring proms at a reasonable cost thanks to members of the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church Sunday school class that was inspired at last year’s ELCA Youth Gathering. Two of the girls, Libbi Williams (left) and Morgan Hiltbrand are pictured with another classmate, Vanessa Blair. The dress model was not identified.

“We wanted to do something locally and help people our age,” Brobeck said. “Prom is so expensive, the tickets, the dress, everything ....”

Last December, Brobeck; Morgan Hiltbrand, a senior; Libbi Williams, a sophomore; and Jessie Yonkey, a ninth-grader (whose age prevented her from going to the Youth Gathering), put out a call for donated dresses that area teens could use for spring proms. They announced their project at schools, in newspapers and even appeared on Youngstown TV stations.

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