Washougal student, mother lift spirits with homecoming dress giveaway

When Taylor Poulsen sees people at Washougal High School’s upcoming homecoming dance wearing dresses that they otherwise wouldn’t have had access to if it wasn’t for her efforts, an already special evening will become all the more memorable.

Poulsen, a Washougal High senior, and her mother Tara are collecting previously worn formal gowns to give to students for the school’s homecoming dance, which will be held on Saturday, Oct. 16.

“It’s really fun to do something like this because (the dresses) are going to people I go to school with, people I know,” Taylor said during the “Giving Gown Gala” event, held Oct. 8 at the high school’s upper gymnasium. “That’s what’s really exciting. I’ve been thinking about seeing people (at the dance and saying to them), ‘Oh my gosh, I helped pick out that dress. I’m so excited that you’re wearing it.’ It’s really cool.”

Tara came up with the idea several weeks ago, motivated by the prospect of doing something to help lift the spirits of local teenagers, many of whom have been struggling during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“I think (this project) is such a unifier, and we need unifiers right now,” Tara said. “We need some common ground in our community, and I think lifting up our kids is the perfect place to start. I wanted to do something good and positive, something that everybody could come together and be involved in. The morale of our teenagers has been a focus for a lot of parents. We’re just trying to do something to help out and boost the self-esteem of these kids that have really been feeling the pressure of the situation for the past couple of years.”

Tara started out by asking community members via Instagram post to drop off dresses at Beauty Temptations salon in Washougal or the high school. Initially, she didn’t know what kind of reaction the post would generate and set her expectations accordingly low.

“At first, we only wanted 60 (dresses),” Taylor said.

They ended up bringing 142 gowns into Washougal High for the first day of the gala, during which students could peruse, try on, and take home frocks of their choice free of charge. The gala returned to the school for a second session on Oct. 11.

“This has been kind of thrown together in the last couple of weeks, and we’ve had an overwhelming response, honestly,” Tara said. “I started by just trying to get the word out about collecting donations, and as soon as the teenage population heard what we were doing, (it took off). My daughter kept getting questions about when the dresses were going to be available, when they could come and get them, and that’s when we knew we were doing the right thing. It was a good confirmation that we were on the right track. It was kind of slow starting, like most things are, but now my phone is ringing like crazy, and I’ve been running around picking up dresses all over town. It’s been really cool to see people get behind this. It’s a really good feeling.”

“I’m way surprised,” Taylor added. “At first we had just a few (dresses), and I was like, ‘This is fine,’ but a lady reached out to us who had a storage unit full of dresses, and we got to pick a bunch and take them, which was so cool. We’ve ended up with way more than I thought we would.”

Taylor provided critical assistance by collecting the dresses at the high school and promoting the gala among her peers.

“She’s my point person at the school; if you’re doing something for the teenagers, you need one of them to help and speak the language,” Tara said. “She sat in at the meeting that I had with (Washougal High principal Sheree Clark) and had some really great ideas to bring to the table. She’s collecting (dresses) from the school, and she’s also my social media guru. She has a much larger following of high school girls that I do, so her social media presence has been really (helpful).”

“I wanted to help make sure everybody gets a dress because we know there’s a lot of low-income kids at our school, and I thought it would be really fun,” Taylor added. “It’s exciting to help people pick out their dresses. I’ve had friends (in the past) who couldn’t get a dress and at the last minute they’d have to scramble and find something they didn’t actually like, so it’s cool that (people) can come and pick out something they really like.”

Tara wanted the gala “to feel special for the girls, like they’re shopping without spending money.”

“It may seem like a really silly thing to some people, but I think for a young high school girl that has felt the pressure of the lockdown in the past year, not had the (usual) activities, can’t get that fabulous dress because the finances aren’t there, and is comparing herself to everybody else, this could really be a big deal,” she said. “The finances that surround events like this (can challenge students as well). When you throw into that a really hurting economy and parents out of work and stores closing, I’m sure the impact is a lot larger than we know in this area.”

The response has been so positive that Tara is already thinking about holding a similar event in the spring of 2022.

“I had originally said that I was going to collect them through (last) weekend, but honestly — and I don’t want to get ahead of myself here — I think we might continue this for prom as well,” she said. “So I’m probably going to continue to take donations and hold onto anything that’s left over until prom in the springtime.”