IT'S A REAL CINDERELLA STORY.

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY 

NORTH HILLS - It's a shame Walt Disney isn't still around. He would have loved this story - a modern-day sequel to Cinderella.

Fairy godmothers working out of a gang-intervention center in North Hills wave their magic wands and turn dozens of young high school girls who lack means to go to their proms this year into lovely Cinderellas ready for the ball.

No magic. No hocus-pocus. No fairy tale. Just real life.

The story begins in North Hills - at a nonprofit, anti-gang mentoring center called Communities in Schools, run by a guy named Blinky Rodriguez who in the last 10 years has saved more young men in the Northeast Valley from early graves and prison than anyone can count.

It's not only boys who need anti-gang mentoring, though. It's girls, too. That's where fairy godmothers Nicole Rivera, Monique Crispe, Lydia Rojas and Mia Arredondo come in.

They've been working with girls who don't have a lot to their names. It's a challenge just to get them to stay in school, let alone take part in the kinds of school activities taken for granted by kids in better-heeled neighborhoods.

When the prom rolls around, forget it. These girls can't afford the glass slippers, much less the whole gown.

They may say they don't really care about going, that proms are for the social set - but it's a lie. The fairy godmothers have talked to enough of them to know that.

The girls want to go. They just don't want to be embarrassed by showing up looking like Cinderella in a dress from her ugly half-sister's closet, that's all.

Give her a ball gown and she'll knock the socks off Prince Charming.

``One day Monique says to me, 'Nicole, why didn't we think of this before?' '' fairy godmother Rivera said. ``There have to be hundreds of young women out there with their old prom dresses just hanging in the closet collecting dust.

``Why can't we collect them, and give them to high school girls who can't afford to buy a prom dress?''

Rivera looked over at Lydia Rojas, and both women had the same look on their faces. No reason. No reason, at all.

They began calling friends who might be willing to part with that old high school memory hanging in the closet. Most of them, like Patty Lopez of Arleta, said sure, how many do you need?

``I had four wedding and prom dresses hanging in my closet that I wasn't wearing anymore,'' Lopez said. ``They're all good, pretty gowns that I'd much rather see on a young girl who can't afford it, rather than selling them at a garage sale or something.''

So, Patty donated her four gowns, and pretty soon other friends and acquaintances chipped in with 30 more.

Now all the fairy godmothers had to do was reach out to high school Cinderellas who wanted to go to the prom but couldn't afford the expense.

They began calling local high schools in their area - Sylmar, San Fernando, Monroe and Van Nuys - to tell them what they were trying to do.

Donna Finkelstein, a counselor and senior-class activities coordinator at Monroe High, called back. How many gowns do you have, she asked, because she probably could fill them all.

``Many of our girls have never had the opportunity to go to a formal like this because they couldn't afford it,'' Finkelstein said. ``We've always tried to raise money for as many as possible to go, but that doesn't always happen.

``What these women are doing is going to mean a lot more high school girls who want to go to the prom this year are going to get the opportunity to go,'' she said.

Next week, the fairy godmothers will stop by Monroe and the other schools to lay out the gowns they have collected for some of the girls to chose from.

In return, the girls are being asked only one thing: When the clock strikes 12, say thank you.

``Every girl will be given the name and address of the donor, and we're asking they write a letter saying thanks, and send ... a prom picture as well,'' Rivera said.

With so many high school proms coming up starting next month, the fairy godmothers don't have a lot of time to fill all the orders they think will come from Cinderellas eager to attend the ball.

So, if you've got a prom dress hanging in the closet and want to see it come to life again - on another young girl who hopes to knock the socks off Prince Charming - give the fairy godmothers a call at [phone].

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

From left, fairy godmothers Mia Arredondo, Lydia Rojas and Nicole Rivera collect formal prom gowns for the first Prom Fairy Godmothers Dress Endowment Crusade in North Hills.

Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer