SHESPEAKS Your Power to Influence

During a time of year when most teens are worried about accessorizing, Courtney Barich decided she would rather help children in need than find the perfect prom dress. The teen vowed to wear a burlap sack to prom if she could collect $10,000 in donations for an orphanage.

Today reports about the teen’s quest to help those in need and the surprising burlap gown that a designer made and donated to the teen after she reached her goal of $10,000 in donations. Barich’s idea came when she was feeling selfish for wanting to buy a $700 dress for prom. She began to think of all the people who didn’t have much when her mom casually said, “You would look good in anything, even a garbage bag or a potato sack.”

After much thought about the project Barich started a website and proclaimed, “I will give up the glitz and glam of a beautiful grad dress and I will wear a Burlap dress to grad instead, if I can get $10,000 in much needed donations to help this orphanage.” And it worked, Barich was able to meet her goal and is still fundraising for the effort. She also went on a two week mission with fellow students to help build houses at the orphanage located in the Philippines.

Designer Suman Faulkner donated her time and effort to create a burlap gown fit for any prom so that Barich didn’t have to literally shimmy into a potato sack. Faulkner confesses that the dress took longer than expected saying, “Actually I am very allergic to burlap. So I would work for a little then walk away, then work a little more. It took me longer than it normally would.” But in the end Barich and Faulkner were very happy with the design and the overall good they were able to do.

What do you think of this teen’s effort to help children in need?

What do you think of the burlap prom dress that came out of Barich’s project?