The Ranch Closet is helping to make magic happen with contributions to the Cinderella Room.

Ranch Ehrlo’s Working towards Independence and Nourishing Growing Skills (WINGS) program is donating grad/prom dresses to Regina’s Belfour Collegiate.

Belfour Collegiate is home to the Shirley Schneider Support Centre, which helps teen moms and pregnant teens.

Grad and prom dress shopping can be a daunting and expensive task, and so the Centre has started to stock its Cinderella Room with gently used dresses and footwear for students who need the financial help.

“Grad is super expensive and there are a lot of families who can’t afford it,” explained Monique Boyko, therapeutic worker with WINGS. “At least this will take one of the expenses away. Everyone deserves to have a graduation.”

The Ranch Closet first opened in spring 2014, with the intention of further integration into Ranch programs and services and to provide meaningful work experiences to the young women in the WINGS program.

WINGS program participants operate the Closet by accepting, collecting, sorting, washing, and folding clothing donations.

Families from the Ranch Ehrlo Family Treatment Program and Ehrlo Sport Venture access the Ranch Closet on a regular basis. Lately the Ranch Closet has become something of a community closet, said Monique, with overflow being reallocated to non-profits around the city. So far, donations have benefited the clients of Souls Harbour, Dress for Success, YWCA, women’s shelters, and Carmichael Outreach.

“We didn’t expect the Ranch Closet to get this big, but I think a lot of people are grateful that it has because it’s not just Ranch clients benefitting from it anymore.”

** The Ranch Closet is not intended to be a competitor for retail consignment stores and only accepts donations from those associated with the Ranch, either through employment or client services. The Ranch Closet makes donations to Ranch clients and non-profits exclusively; the general public cannot access their services directly.