With high school proms coming up, help is being offered to high school girls in the form of free dresses in the “Say yes to the Prom Dress” program.
Three years ago Meliesa Brandon-Stiles came up with the idea of helping out families who can’t afford to buy dresses for prom. It was another way she could honor her son Austin, who was killed in a 2021 car crash near Acampo. The 2016 Ceres High School graduate was prom king his senior year.
“I know how expensive things are and how expensive it is to go to prom,” said Brandon-Stiles. “I have three daughters and two years ago we decided, let’s do this in your brother’s honor and we just started taking donations of dresses.”
The effort has grown since its inception, with seven girls claiming free prom dresses in 2024 and 13 in 2025. This year Stiles decided to team up with the Hope Tree Church (2745 Second Street in downtown Ceres) which also offers a clothes closet ministry.
“We’re in the same town so we just thought, let’s collaborate and do it together. I had over a 100 dresses to start. We thought this is a good thing we’re doing, let’s do it together, and it’s been great so far.”
All the dresses have been donated and Meliesa has paid for repairs and cleaning.
“We’ve probably got about 25 brand new dresses with tags still attached. We did get a lot from the girls that were supposed to go to prom their senior year when it was COVID. A lot of those dresses came in with tags. These girls wear them just a short amount of time, so the dresses come in basically brand new.”
The dresses can be claimed by any high school girl in the county provided they can show a school ID card and find a dress they can like and can fit. Dresses may be tried on Thursday, Feb. 26, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.; and Saturday, Feb. 28, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Some appointment times will also be available in March. To schedule an appointment call Meliesa Stiles at 209-552-9798.
Assisting in the endeavor at Hope Tree Church is member Sveta Patterson, a registered nurse who helped start the clothes ministry called Hope Closet.
Pastor Chris Henry said an old garage on the church property has been upgraded with a new interior, lighting, heating and cooling for the express purpose of collecting and distributing clothing donated by the church and community. The building is even equipped with a curtained off area with mirror where the girls can see how the dresses fit.
“Even the cheap dresses are 200 bucks. Some of these people are spending $500, a thousand, so we’re saving some of these families hundreds of dollars,” said Henry.
The dresses are free and may be kept or returned.
“We don’t tell anybody, bring it back – it’s theirs.”
