Indiana woman making prom dreams come true, 1 last time

COLUMBUS, Ind. (AP) - Her car looks like a mobile closet for people who love everything that glitters.

Flowing sequin and studded gowns - some worth $1,000 retail - seem as if they were borrowed from starlets on the Hollywood red carpet, but they temporarily fill Deana Hillenburg-Holley's vehicle trunk and interior.

"When I pick up my son, Joshua (Holley), from track practice this time of year, he complains there is nowhere to sit," Hillenburg-Holley said.

He is right. Unless he wants to be draped by a red ball gown, or a sweeping, blue, off-the-shoulder number. Tuxedo accessories are tucked here and there, too.

The 51-year-old Columbus resident, helped by a group of loyal volunteers, is driving herself intensely toward the local prom May 5 at The Commons downtown.

Her legacy

The woman, known as "Momma Deana," has voluntarily outfitted girls and boys for the spring prom each of the past 33 years. Since 1985, she has helped dress 400 students at no charge to them.

This year, she is providing formal attire for 59 girls and four boys. Without her assistance, the cost of prom - clothes, hair, makeup, dinner and photos - would be beyond their reach.

But this is the last year in this role for Hillenburg-Holley, allowing her to focus on other priorities.

"Last week, I had a girl break down crying in the parking lot after she picked up a dress - all because she felt so pretty," Hillenburg-Holley said, referring to a scene at The Cameo Room, a hair shop serving as an unofficial headquarters.

"This is the reason I do what I do. It tugs on my heartstrings," Hillenburg-Holley said.

What drives volunteers

Hillenburg-Holley herself grew up financially struggling in Columbus. She desperately worked to buy her own prom dresses in 1983 and 1984 partly because she did not want to stand out as a student without means.

So she has a soft spot regarding the pricey part of prom that she believes keeps many students from attending.

Consequently, she has volunteered alongside others such as Allison Watters of The Glass Slipper project in Brown County to find donated dresses, and for-free stylists such as Rene Whicker and others at The Cameo Room, and Lynn Reese of Photolicious Keepsakes for discounted photo packages and daughter Hanna Michaelis who helps with makeup and people who donate restaurant gift certificates.

Reese and Whicker have been Hillenburg-Holley's assistants for years. In fact, Reese's house recently held six dresses that had just been donated to the cause.

It all reminded Reese, a 1994 East grad who didn't attend her senior prom because her dad was laid off and her family was hurting financially, how important Hillenburg-Holley is.

"I never even knew back then that there was a Deana," Reese said.

At the time, news about prom help traveled at a snail's pace by word of mouth.

Today, via the power of social media, plenty of students and parents know.

On a Tuesday morning, while the Prom Mom chatted about her work at The Cameo Room, her Facebook account held 28 personal messages received in a few hours time.

Hannah Hart, a 20-year-old North senior, wore one of Hillenburg-Holley's donated gowns to the prom last year. She can scarcely highlight her favorite part of it.

"Just all of it," Hart said.

It also means something that the Prom Mom works to make sure special-needs students such as Hart, who has autism, get to the big event. Her own Joshua is developmentally disabled.

While Hillenburg-Holley recently she recounted her work through the years, she also met with Rikka Booth, a former special education teacher interested in becoming the new Prom Mom. She listened to Hillenburg-Holley's expansive effort and seemed impressed.

"That's amazing," Booth said. "That's really amazing."

How it plays out

Generally, Hillenburg-Holley asks students to return dresses, suits and tuxes after the big event so they can be shared with others the next year.

She is so detailed about her volunteer work with students from Columbus North, Columbus East and Hauser high schools and surrounding cities that she mentally keeps track which dresses ended up at which proms "so you do not see that dress at the same school the following year," she said.

When a student makes a request for help, she collects sizes, then glances at their Facebook page to get an idea of their style and personality. She also solicits donations for items such as restaurant gift certificates to give students. In recent years, she has helped create bouquets, corsages and boutonnieres.

Her volunteerism includes arranging those she calls guests to accompany special-needs students, who need a bit of help, to prom.

With all this going on, plus working full-time for Help At Home, a home health care agency, and caring for her seriously ill mother, it's little wonder that Hillenburg-Holley is powered by Mountain Dew and sleeping fitfully these days.

Someone asked about her cross-shaped earrings and her Baptist faith. What is God saying to her amid all this hustle and bustle?

"Keep pushing," she answered with a smile. "Just keep pushing."

She has worked on prom matters year 'round. She sometimes has to diplomatically remind students that she is a volunteer and not a store. But one male student in recent years brought her flowers after she found him a sharp suit to make his prom beautiful.

She froze when she thought about what she will do with herself next prom season.

"I don't know," she said. "I just don't know."

But one thing for sure, her car can relinquish its role as a closet. And the Prom Mom who says she is happily weary from her work finally can rest, while leaving everyone with a thought recently posted on her Facebook page.

It reads: "Kindness is always fashionable."

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Source: The (Columbus) Republic

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Information from: The Republic, http://www.therepublic.com/