Royalty for a Night project outfits students for their graduation ball, free of charge

MANY secondary school students dream of dressing up like princes and princesses on the night of their graduation ball. Unfortunately, this dream never materialises because of financial constraints. With this in mind, a group of good Samaritans got together to make this dream a reality.

The group which is not yet officially registered as an NGO has been outfitting young people with dresses and suits of their choice, donated by members of the public. The name of the project is Royalty for a Night.

Tomorrow (Saturday) the group will be distributing outfits at the Gulf View Community Centre at La Romaine from 10 am to 6 pm. It is the first of two distribution dates, the other being at Cascadia Hotel and Conference Centre, Port of Spain on June 16 from 10 am to 6 pm.

"When we started in 2015, it was called Princess for a Night. Last year we decided to change the name to Royalty for a Night because we wanted to include young men also. We really want the students to feel like royalties, at least for this night," said one of the coordinators Keel County.

The project began three years ago when a teacher from a secondary school in Central took to social media on learning some of her students could not afford to go to their graduation ball.

In a post on Facebook, she asked the public for graduation dresses so that she could donate to the students, allowing them to attend the graduation ball.

"The post went viral and we ended up collecting hundreds of dresses. The students were able to go the graduation. We extended it to other schools and we had hundreds of students showed up. Ideally, the target audience is for those who cannot afford, but we do not deny people," County said.

She is a criminology research assistant at the University of Trinidad and Tobago.