2,800 Prom Gowns From a Single Thread
New Orleans Students Salute Beltsville Teen Who Restored Their Hope
By Annie Gowen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 12, 2006; Page A01
NEW ORLEANS -- When Marisa West walked into the muggy high school cafeteria in New Orleans yesterday, 400 girls stood and cheered.
"You have single-handedly saved prom for countless girls," Christina Luwisch, senior class president, told the senior from Georgetown Day School in the District.
Cabrini High School student Emily Mumme, far left, hugs Leathia West while daughter Marisa West, far right, embraces Emily's mother, Lesley Mumme. (Sean Gardner For The Washington Post)
West, an 18-year-old from Beltsville, was honored yesterday at Cabrini High School, but she has become a heroine nationally after her simple gesture to help Hurricane Katrina victims -- she wanted to collect prom dresses, maybe as many as a hundred -- turned into an outpouring of generosity.
What she wound up with was 2,800 dresses -- enough to go to 10 ravaged high schools. And shoes. And handbags, jewelry and computers. And more.
The assembly to honor West, on the eve of the dance, turned into a collective outpouring of grief for loved ones lost, family members displaced, homes gone. As ceiling fans twirled, the Cabrini girls wiped away tears with the sleeves of their uniforms.
New Orleans Students Salute Beltsville Teen Who Restored Their Hope
By Annie Gowen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 12, 2006; Page A01
NEW ORLEANS -- When Marisa West walked into the muggy high school cafeteria in New Orleans yesterday, 400 girls stood and cheered.
"You have single-handedly saved prom for countless girls," Christina Luwisch, senior class president, told the senior from Georgetown Day School in the District.
Cabrini High School student Emily Mumme, far left, hugs Leathia West while daughter Marisa West, far right, embraces Emily's mother, Lesley Mumme. (Sean Gardner For The Washington Post)
West, an 18-year-old from Beltsville, was honored yesterday at Cabrini High School, but she has become a heroine nationally after her simple gesture to help Hurricane Katrina victims -- she wanted to collect prom dresses, maybe as many as a hundred -- turned into an outpouring of generosity.
What she wound up with was 2,800 dresses -- enough to go to 10 ravaged high schools. And shoes. And handbags, jewelry and computers. And more.
The assembly to honor West, on the eve of the dance, turned into a collective outpouring of grief for loved ones lost, family members displaced, homes gone. As ceiling fans twirled, the Cabrini girls wiped away tears with the sleeves of their uniforms.