Cinderella’s Closet is looking to provide the same kind of service, “so no princess is left behind,” but without any magical conjuring and without the concern of items reverting to some other form.

Lydia and Pam Balas will open Cinderella’s Closet from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24, and from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 1, at Holy Redeemer Church, 11 Russell St., Warren.

They are giving away dresses, shoes, and accessories appropriate for school dances.

Lydia Balas had been involved in the food pantry at Warren Area High School and she had heard of other entities that had given away dresses in the community. “Why not start it back up?” she thought.

“I’ve planned homecomings, proms… all kinds of school dances,” Lydia Balas said.

She knew that not everyone went to those dances and some were held back by their ability to find appropriate attire.

“I heard whispers in the hall” that people would not attend because they couldn’t find a dress, she said.

Initially, she thought about holding an event at the school, but she turned away from that idea. “I don’t want kids to think they can’t come to the Closet because they don’t go to that school,” she said. “It’s very discrete. I don’t want anyone to feel uncomfortable.”

She came up with a more neutral site.

“We’ve been part of this church all my life,” Lydia Balas said. “It made sense to do it at the church. We had a meeting. I gave them my ideas and they said, ‘Of course.'”

“Father and the office staff have been very gracious,” Pam Balas said.

There is even space set aside for changing rooms.

With an idea and a location, they needed some formalwear.

“We have lots of friends… we knew we could get dresses,” Lydia Balas said.

But would it be enough?

“What if we don’t get dresses?” she said.

That has not been a problem. “We have tons of dresses,” she said. “The community all came together.”

There are even dresses from outside the county.

They have collected 200 items, including dresses appropriate for Homecoming, Prom, or Christmas dance, as well as shoes, and accessories.

“All sizes, all colors, all styles,” Pam Balas said.

The Cinderella’s Closet events may come too late for some dances.

“We acknowledge that a couple of the homecomings are early and we missed them,” Pam Balas said. But, there are dresses appropriate to events that are still in the future.

The Closet may be open again later in the year — depending on how many dresses there are left after the first two and whether or not more come in — but the Balases encourage people to take a look at the prom dresses over the next week rather than wait.

Visitors are asked to enter from the North South Street parking lot and head downstairs.

Additional information is available by contacting Pam and Lydia at cinderellawarrenco@outlook.com.