SALEM TOWNSHIP – Rebecca Robichaud opened a “little green book” Wednesday and looked down through the inventory of donated dresses in The Cinderella’s Closet at Mt. Abram High School.

“We have three different tones of blue dresses, a white dress, purple dress and a pink dress with black polka dots and one pair of shoes size 10, the 18-year-old senior said. There is only one dress over size 10 and they need larger sizes and more medium-sized dresses. Most of the dresses donated are sizes 4, 5 and 6.

Robichaud has received responses to donate gowns for high school students to wear at the May 10 prom. Her mother, Sharon Dudley, also visited an online auction site and bought several dresses at a good price to donate to the closet.

Robichaud of Phillips and fellow senior Jamie Tisor, 17, of Stratton are hoping to collect enough dresses, shoes, purses, jewelry, gloves and tiaras so that each of the girls at the school will have a chance to attend the prom without too much financial stress. Those donations are tax deductible.

If they get an abundance of donations, they’ll be contacting other high schools in the region.

The average cost of a prom dress is $250, Robichaud said, and with the economic challenges facing the area and the cost of fuel, it is difficult for some girls to travel 67 miles to Auburn or 117 miles to Portland and spend that kind of money on a dress.

“I’ve heard one too many times, ‘I would go to the prom, but between the cost of the dress and my ticket I cannot afford it,'” Robichaud said.

The two teenagers got together after Tisor posted a message on her Internet blog about her best friend, Dee-Dee Palmer, 16, who had died in a car accident on Nov. 3, 2007, in Canaan. Palmer, of Andover, was a student at Telstar Regional High School in Bethel.

Palmer, who was also Robichaud’s second cousin, would have turned 17 on March 14, the teens said.

“We decided after we got into the project that it would be a nice thing to do it in her memory,” Robichaud said.

“(Palmer) liked to give a lot, and this was more like a tribute to give back to her,” Tisor said. “I felt it was something I could do to cope with the loss.”

Now, the gowns are neatly folded and stored in boxes in a mobile closet at the student center. They’re also hoping to get a rack and hangers donated to hang the dresses.

The teens plan to have the girls make appointments, which will be kept confidential, for a fitting of the dresses.

“For me, the starting of a Cinderella Closet was an opportunity to provide all the young ladies of our area with an opportunity I was lucky to have,” Robichaud said.

Last year, when she lived in Colorado and her father was in Iraq, she and her stepmother had trouble finding a prom dress for under $250, which was more than they could afford.

They did find a discount store and bought a dress for $30 and Googled it finding out it was worth $150. She has donated that dress to The Cinderella’s Closet and plans to get her own dress from the closet this year as a personal statement.

Tisor also was able to find one of her dresses at Deb’s on the discount rack for $13. She too has donated to the closet.

An education technician walked into the room as the girls were explaining how the closet would work.

“I think it was an awesome idea,” Janet Thomas said. “Kudos to you guys.”

The girls are also accepting monetary donations to dry clean the dresses. Checks should be made out to Mt. Abram High School.

Butler Dry Cleaners out of Skowhegan has offered a deep discount for dry cleaning the dresses, Robichaud said. “Their price is usually $17.95 and up, depending on the detail, and they have agreed to give us a flat rate of $5 each.

“We’re trying to make this a Cinderella experience … only you don’t turn back into a pumpkin afterward,” Robichaud said.

To donate gowns, shoes, accessories to:

The Cinderella’s Closet c/o Mt. Abram Regional High School 1513 Salem Road Salem Township, ME 04983

Or e-mail:

Rebecca Robichaud at [email protected]

Jamie Tisor at [email protected].