After a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, CHIP IN Batavia and Batavia Public Library are sponsors to the seventh annual Prom Dress Give A Way event Saturday, March 12. The giveaway will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Kane Vax Hub (formerly Sam’s Club), 501 N. Randall Road in Batavia. The Kane County Health Department will provide the space and COVID vaccinations at the event.
Kane County junior and senior students are invited. A nonprofit, CHIP IN’s mission is to assist low income and homeless Batavia families in crisis. The event goal is to ensure that all girls, regardless of income status, can enjoy this right of passage and not sit out due to the typically high expense.
Long time CHIP IN partner, Batavia Public Library, 10 S. Batavia Avenue in Batavia, will be host to a dress collection drive of clean dresses and accessories to March 10. Donations will be accepted at the Library checkout desk. Hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Tax donation letters will be available.
Hundreds of dresses will be on display. Private changing areas and accessories will be available. Face masks are required.
Dresses will be given away to any girl from any Kane school district, regardless of need. Monetary donations will be used to help defray costs of tuxedo rentals and prom tickets for Batavia students.
Guests can make a vaccination appointment. Visit KaneVax.org or call 855-4-KANEVAX (855-452-6382).
In 2019, CHIP IN gave away more than 300 dresses to students from Batavia, Mooseheart, St Charles, Geneva, Elgin, Aurora, Rosary, Jacobs, North Central College, Yorkville, Chicago, Naperville and others. More than 300 dresses were given to Rotolo Middle School in Batavia for the eighth grade dinner dance and to the Batavia Interfaith Clothes Closet, Wayside Ministries, East Aurora High School, MyDaughters Dress Prom Drive, and All Dressed Up.
CHIP IN Batavia–Community Helpers Impacting People in Need–is a restricted fund within the Batavia Foundation for Educational Excellence, a 501-c-3 not for profit organization. CHIP IN’s mission is to help students in need, homeless, in transitional housing, or on free/reduced lunch. For more information, visit chipinbatavia.org, Facebook.com/CHIP IN Batavia or send an E-mail to info@chipinbatavia.org.
— CHIP IN Batavia