Judy Case is originally from Sioux City, Iowa and currently lives in Anthon, Iowa. She’s 22 years old and works at a call center of unknown name and location. On Thursday April 14, 2011 at lunch time Judy gritted her teeth, and set out to make sure the girls of an Iowa town nearly erased from the map would have the opportunity to attend their prom in proper style.I caught up with Judy on the morning of April 16, 2011 at “the Shelter House” in Onawa, Iowa. It is so named because that is exactly what it is, a shelter house, though enclosed and a little more upscale than what you are probably picturing. Into this shelter house was transported several salons worth of beauty supplies and talent, all dedicated to making sure that no girl had to attend their prom halfway.
What follows is the conversation that Judy and I had in the few minutes she could spare during the preparation…
April 16_ 2011 Maple Valley Prom Relief Project
All photos by Curtis Bloes
TSN – How did you get the idea to help the girls of Mapleton out in this way.
Judy - A girl I work with told me that they were taking dress donations for the girls who had lost their dresses in the tornado that hit Mapleton, and nobody ever once said, “What are they going to do with their makeup, what are they going to do with their hair?” That’s when it occurred to me that maybe we should do something with their hair, makeup, nails, and things like that.
TSN – There are a lot of prom goodies scattered all around the room, a hundred or so dresses, corsages, jewelry, not to mention donuts and soda. Was this all donated?
Judy – I didn’t spend any money to put this together. The dresses were donated by people from all over Iowa. The corsages, and actually about sixty of those dresses, were donated by Sac City businesses. The doughnuts and soda were donated by Hy-Vee, and something like twenty three people are coming from as far away as Sioux City, Iowa City and Sac City to do hair and makeup. Oh, and the Mayor of Onawa donated the use of the shelter house, here in Onawa. All together there were about twelve businesses that donated items or services.
TSN – What you’ve put together here is pretty impressive, have you ever taken on anything of this scope before?
Judy – No, this is the first thing I’ve ever done. It’s pretty exciting.
TSN – What was your motivation, did you go to school at Maple Valley?
Judy – No, I was home schooled, I’m from Sioux City originally, and then I moved to Anthon a few months ago.
TSN - How much interest have you gotten from actual Maple Valley high School students?
Judy – Well, we have thirteen appointments set up, and walk ins will be welcome. We’ve gotten a lot of feedback on Facebook. One hair stylist from Onawa came down to thank us and to offer her services after she gets off work.
TSN – That brings up a question that occurred to me during the hour and a half drive from Sac City to Onawa. Have any of the local salons given you any grief for “stealing” their customers?
Judy – All of the feedback we’ve gotten from Facebook has been really positive. There were a couple of salons that were upset and accused us of taking their business, but that’s not what we’re doing at all. The number of professional stylist with their own businesses that have responded and offered to volunteer really speaks to the general understanding that we are not trying to steal business, but rather to help out the families of those girls that have lost everything and can’t afford, in this time of crisis, to afford to go to a professional stylist. You know, being homeschooled, I didn’t attend a prom, and I kind of feel like that was a special time that I missed out on. It’s such a milestone, such an important event in the lives of these girls that I feel like the memory of that event should be that their day was as perfect as can be.
TSN – So you have thirteen appointments set up so far, how many students are eligible for the Maple Valley Prom this year?
Judy – I called the school and I asked them how many girls are able to go to prom, and they told me that there are seventy three.
TSN – What made you decide to locate in Onawa today?
Judy – This was the closest building that I could find that wasn’t being used. I was going to check with the Mapleton Community Center, but when we went there it looked like it was being used. I discovered that everything in Mapleton is being used for relief and things like that, so this was kind of the closest place we could find.
TSN – You have a lot of material here. If you have anything left over, what are you going to do with it?
Judy – The hair and makeup products are all going to the school for the girls to have. I’m told, and I’m not in charge of this, that the unused prom dresses are going to be auctioned off to benefit the school.
TSN – It’s easy to get caught up in what is necessary to get done right now in the moment, but if I were to ask you to take a step back and tell me what you would like to see happen beyond just hair, makeup, and dresses for the girls you will be helping today, what would you say?
Judy – Any of us that are setting this all up, this is the first time we’ve ever done anything like this, and we have tons of people that are coming to help out. These people are bringing all of their own beauty products and equipment and things like that, so I would encourage anyone we are helping today to help other people that may have some unfortunate event happen in their lives. Pass on the generosity.
TSN – How long did it take to put this event together?
Judy – We only had two days to do it, this was only planned two days ago. I’m glad how well this turned out on such short notice. I was working both days from seven AM to four PM every day at my regular job, and I was trying to do this on my breaks, and at night after work. It took about ten or twelve hours squeezed in around my regular work hours to make this happen. I kind of wished that I could take off work, but I didn’t and it all still came together.
TSN - Let’s go back to Thursday. You hear about this idea and realize that you could take this even further. Was it hard to get this project off the ground?
Judy – No. In fact, the very first place I called, the Iowa School of Beauty, was immediately, like, “Yeah, we’re going to bring nine girls down!” It was very encouraging to encounter that much positivity on the very first call, and that’s kind of how it went everywhere. I didn’t even have to call many of the donors and volunteers, they contacted me.
Judy Case helps the first customer of the day, Samantha Pauly, getting ready for her prom.
First Maple Valley Prom Relief Customer Samantha Pauly
Local Sac City business including Danz 501, Details Flowers Etc., and Studio 507 donated time and materials to this cause. East Sac County School area students also donated dresses to this cause. Local business people Colleen Swanger and Joan Green are the two people most responsible for getting the ball rolling, finding the dresses and transporting them to Onawa. Cheryl Gerry donated prom accessories including corsages.
Curtis Bloes - Editor
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