Submitted photo The Operation Prom initiative has been collecting prom attire for a little over a month and is set to be completed with a shopping day event for Warren County students on April 13.

After a little over a month of collection items, Operation Prom is set to have their shopping day for Warren students next Saturday.

Katie Spiegel, a realtor with ERA Team VP is spearheading the event along with the company and has been collecting donations of any sort of prom-related item throughout March. Donations were dropped off at the Warren YMCA. Now the overall Operation Prom initiative is set to end with a Free Community Prom Dress Shopping Event on April 13 from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Warren Student Union Building, 330 Hickory Street.

Since the drive began, Spiegel said the collection went very well.

“The collection went better than I truly expected,” Spiegel said. “I was able to collect more than 130 dresses.”

Altogether, items donated include long prom dresses, short homecoming dresses, formal jewelry, purses and shoes. All items will be available at the shopping day event to anyone in need of formal wear for prom at no cost to them. It is open to anyone who attends school in the Warren County area, specifically Warren High School, Sheffield High School, Eisenhower High School and Youngsville High School.

When people come to the shopping day event, Spiegel said to expect racks of dresses to choose from ranging in sizes from zero to 16. There will be trays of jewelry and shoes to try on. Additionally, the event is meant to take away some of the stress of shopping for prom off of students.

“Shopping for a prom dress can be stressful,” Spiegel said. “This event is meant to help with some of that stress. Students will be able to come and shop for a dress in a laid back atmosphere and hopefully leave that day with a dress that makes them feel beautiful.”

Spiegel hopes that students from every Warren County school will come shop on the shopping day and that the day will allow for someone who has been hesitant to go to prom because of the stress of finding a dress be able to go. As for next year, Spiegel said she knows she wants to do Operation Prom again but does not know what else it might look like right now.

Spiegel thanked everyone who donated items for Operation Prom and others who helped support her.

“I had some people even reach out to inform me they actually bought brand new dresses just to donate,” Spiegel said. “The amount of support I have received from this community is absolutely amazing. I also want to thank Jennifer Pojar and her staff at the YMCA for allowing dresses to be donated there. And another thank you to Pam at the Warren Student Union Building for allowing us to hold this event there. Without the donations and help I would not have been able to host this event. So thank you to everyone for helping me make this event successful.”