...And Another Thing!

As Winnipeg students get ready to go back to school, a local agency is preparing for a very special prom night.
   
Sage House is a drop-in resource centre for street-involved women and transgendered women, most of whom are active in Winnipeg’s street sex trade. A program of Mount Carmel Clinic, its Dufferin Avenue location provides free meals, condoms, health education and STI testing, laundry services, phones, baths and a safe, welcoming place to relax. It also has a team of outreach workers that walks the streets, offering women crisis counseling, handing out harm-reduction kits and connecting them to other resources.
   
In addition to supporting some of our city’s most vulnerable people in a respectful, non-judgmental way, Sage House offers all sorts of recreational activities. This summer, it organized a beach day, a Sage House Idol (complete with a panel of judges), several themed dinner nights and a circus.
   
"We had lots of fun this summer," says Nicole Martel, one of the organization’s outreach workers. "It’s nice to see these girls out of their element, and they appreciate everything — like, every little thing you do for them."
   
Wrapping up the seasonal programming will be a prom night on Sept. 17.
   
As Martel points out, grads are memorable milestones in the lives of many people, women especially, since they’re an opportunity to get dressed up, get our hair done and party all fancy-like. (I still remember my grad outfit: my dress was an off-the-shoulder, gun-metal grey number with an obnoxious jewel detail on the front and crinoline under the skirt. I wore my hair up, curled and accessorized with an oversized, filigreed silver barrette. At the time, I thought I was hot shit, although the photographic evidence from that night suggests otherwise.)
   
Grads are something most of the women who use Sage House’s services have never experienced due to the circumstances of their lives. This is where Winnipeggers can help out: organizers are looking for donations of gently-used grad dresses or formal gowns, as well as any other accessories (tiaras, boas, etc.) that would be appropriate for such a get-together. In particular, Martel says they need plus-sized dresses for the transgendered gals who’ll be participating.
   
Between 15 and 30 women are expected to take part in the event. They’ll be receiving corsages, getting their hair professionally styled and makeovers courtesy of Mary Kay, and photographers will be there to document all the fun.
   
"We’re trying to make it as close as possible to a formal grad," Martel says.
   
Donated dresses will be used again this winter when Sage House holds its annual Snow Night, an evening of pampering for women who want to get off the street for the night.
   
Any gowns that don’t end up getting used will be donated to St. John’s High School’s Gowns for Grads program. Started a few years ago, this program offers formal dresses to graduating students across the city at no cost.
   
Donations for Sage House’s 2010 Prom can be dropped off at Mount Carmel Clinic (886 Main St.) or Sage House (422 Dufferin Ave.), or you can call 943-6379 and arrange for a pick-up.
   
Here’s hoping everyone involved has a blast.