The Princess for a Night (PFAN) project is an annual effort made by members of the community to donate used dresses which can be obtained free of charge for girls who are in need of a prom dress. Amy Bowman is the PFAN contact for West Potomac and talked about how the project got started.

“Princess for a Night in this area originated through Mount Vernon High School.  Mount Vernon had been hosting an event for several years, when a group of volunteers thought it would be a great program to have at West Potomac,” said Bowman. “Katie Baskinski at Mount Vernon was incredibly helpful in getting us up and running here, giving advice on how to promote and run the program, and sharing dress racks and donations with us.  This is the fifth year that we have had Princess for a Night at West Potomac.”

Every year, local high school girls from all over the community rely on PFAN for prom dresses.

“We generally give away between 100 and 150 dresses a year, and get between 50 and 75 girls coming through. We have all kinds of dresses in all styles and sizes. We invite girls from any area high school, and we usually get girls from the surrounding high schools such as Mount Vernon, Edison, Lee, Hayfield and T.C. Williams,” she said. “We are happy to give dresses to any high school girl who wants one,” said Bowman.

Bowman said that she would like to see the PFAN project reach more people in the community in the future.She also added that the community has done a fine job contributing dresses to the project.

“I’d like to get to see the program serve more girls.  We’ve been working on the donation side, and the community has been incredibly generous in supporting us,” said Bowman.Now we need to make sure that all these great dresses get used again.”