Pictured: Judy Alexander (left) and Pamela Peters (right) help a Lakewood Ranch High School student find her perfect prom outfit. Photo by Wyatt Kostygan.

For 23 years, Judy Alexander, founder of Every Child Sarasota has made it her mission to help as many underprivileged children as possible. This spring, with a little help from some very generous friends, she was able to make a dream come true for several young ladies who might not have ever imagined attending their high-school prom due to their family's financial situation. On March 17 & 18, 2022 from 10 am - 2 pm, underprivileged girls felt very privileged to come to the Carlisle Inn, 3727 Bahia Vista Street and chose a dress, jewelry, a purse, and shoes to wear to their prom and keep forever.

Judy formed Every Child, Inc. 23 years ago with the goal of providing backpacks filled with school supplies to underprivileged children. Since its inception, thousands of children have received backpacks. In 2008, when Judy heard that young girls couldn’t go to prom because they didn’t have gowns, she knew she wanted to help again. Her friend Teresa Gutierrez who works at The Perfect Dress called Judy to let her know that the owners of the shop, Vicki Sack, Kim Frazer and Trillian Sack wanted to donate dresses. Other generous donors soon joined in by contributing new or gently used dresses, shoes, purses and jewelry. And the rest is history.

CoreSRQ, Inc., a Sarasota non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life in our community through family fitness and recreation centers proudly partnered with Every Child for this year’s return of the Cinderella Project by helping with advertising for donations by reaching out to their member base. Pamela Peters, Event Coordinator at CoreSRQ was thrilled with the reults. "We have over 4,500 members and each one contriubuted something to this event," she said.

The Carlisle Inn performed like a department store for the girls by offering up a room to shop shoes, jewelry, gowns, and of course fitting rooms with full-length mirrors. There were many volunteers, known as “Fairy Godmothers” working the room (these are often the same volunteers who return year after year because they have so much fun) who helped the girls choose their "just right" outfit. The finishing touch was provided by Regina McDermott, Senior Sales Director with Mary Kay cosmetics who helped with matching the perfect shade of makeup for each girl. The Cinderella Project has helped hundreds of kids year after year and Judy hopes to keep it going for many more to come. “Now more than ever," she says "it’s important to bring hope and inspiration to the future leaders of our community!”

Pictured: Judy Alexander (left) and Pamela Peters (right) help a Lakewood Ranch High School student find her perfect prom outfit. Photo by Wyatt Kostygan.