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| Dal student Erica Sweett聽a formal dress sale聽with proceeds to go to the Canadian Cancer Society.聽 |
Erica Sweett is busy. No, check that. Everyone is busy. Erica Sweett is super busy. She鈥檚 is in her fourth year of a degree in IDS and political science, singing and acting in an upcoming Dalhousie Theatre Society show and volunteering at the Sunday Supper program at St. Andrew鈥檚 Church. She鈥檚 also a member of Alpha Gamma Delta women鈥檚 fraternity, where she acts as the organization鈥檚 philanthropy coordinator.
鈥淚鈥檓 obsessed with volunteering,鈥� Ms. Sweett says. She joined Alpha Gamma Delta a year and a half ago, hoping it would provide her with philanthropic opportunities as well as new connections, and so far she has not been disappointed. Nor has she had much free time. An 鈥渋ncredibly successful鈥� fraternity clothing swap earlier this year inspired her current project, which is just days from fruition: Alpha Gamma Delta鈥檚 public formal dress sale, profiting the Canadian Cancer Society.
鈥淓veryone has old dresses, everyone has stuff that they never wear,鈥� Ms. Sweett says. 鈥淚t seemed like a good idea.鈥� Bargain hunters are invited to visit the dress sale this Saturday from 12 noon to 6 p.m.聽in the Haliburton room in the University of King's College A&A Building. The dresses will sell for roughly $10 to $50鈥攁 steal, considering that prom dresses can cost hundreds.
Sequins
Since Dal鈥檚 winter holiday, when the Alpha Gam dress sale was given the go-ahead, Ms. Sweett has spent her spare time stalking rogue evening gowns. She鈥檚 successfully collected almost 50 dresses from sorority sisters and charitable strangers, including several cocktail numbers which were once her own.
鈥淚 think it was really hard for a lot of girls to give away their prom dresses,鈥� she says. 鈥淚鈥檓 really proud of them.鈥� Her apartment is stocked with plastic bags full of unsorted gowns. Ms. Sweett hasn鈥檛 quite finished examining all of the dresses, but says her favourite so far was a liberally sequined pink cocktail number, as well as a garment she will only describe mysteriously as 鈥渞eally eighties鈥� (she plans to purchase it herself if nobody else snags it). She鈥檚 also arranging for unsold dresses to be donated to a high school, where they can benefit students on tighter budgets. That way, both sold and unsold dresses will help someone: 鈥渋t鈥檚 a win-win situation.鈥�
Donate dresses
The dress sale represents a planned effort on the part of the women of Alpha Gamma Delta to engage with their community; the fraternity will also send a team to participate in the Relay for Life later this spring. 鈥淧eople stereotype sororities,鈥� says Ms. Sweett. 鈥�(But)I don鈥檛 feel like we live up to any of those stereotypes.鈥�
If you have any last-minute dresses to donate, Erica Sweett can be reached at ericanova@hotmail.com. On the other hand, if you鈥檙e more the shopping type, come down to the A&A Building, University of King's College, on Saturday afternoon. Good karma doesn鈥檛 often come accompanied by bargain fashion.
Rebecca Schneidereit is a fourth-year English, Theatre and Film Studies student and a member of Alpha Gamma Delta. She has written for Dal News, the Gazette, Fathom, the Kings Frynje, and Disney鈥檚 Propaganda Games.