Donated prom dresses trashed due to clerical error

BAY MINETTE, Ala. (WALA) - An organization that gives prom dresses away every year, found itself without any dresses weeks before the giveaway. Now the group is starting over and doing it quickly.

What happened to the dresses?

"I was devastated, it was a lot of work that had been done for years," said Melanie Sikes.

Organizers said 400 dresses to be exact wound up in the trash. Emily's Closet is a program that's been going on for years. It gives free prom dresses to teens in Baldwin County.

Sikes said the discovery was made a couple of weeks ago when organizers went to the storage unit that held newly donated dresses and those that weren't distributed last year. 

"About two weeks ago, we decided it was time to start pulling dresses out and looking at our numbers. We went to our unit and found out it had been emptied," said Sikes.

It turns out all the dresses had been thrown away. Those with the storage unit said it was an honest mistake.

"It was a clerical mistake, contact information was lost and the unit was thought to be no longer in use," Sikes said.

Sikes said now isn't the time to focus on what happened. Now, she said is the time to make something happen. The group is starting over, and asking for donations up until the giveaway event March 9.

If you would like to donate, you may drop off dresses to any Baldwin County School.

Emily's Closet was started after Melanie Sike's sister was killed in a car accident right before her senior year. Sikes said her sister would always let girls borrow her dresses when needed, and said she decided to keep the tradition going.