UGRAD Alumna's "Cinderella Dresses, Dances, and Fundraising" Project Makes Orphans Smile

Many teenage girls in Kyrgyzstan dream of wearing a beautiful dress to their high school graduation – one that makes them feel fantastic on their special day. 1997-1998 UGRAD alumna Stella Bilalova, through her project “Cinderella Dresses, Dances, and Fundraising,” not only made that dream a reality for girls at an orphanage in Bishkek, but also equipped them and their younger classmates with fundraising and marketing skills they can use long after graduation.

Bilalova mobilized local community members to maximize the impact of her ECA Project Smile grant. She found a seamstress to create 20 evening gowns and dance costumes for the orphanage, and a local dance instructor volunteered to teach a class for the girls. Bilalova lent her own expertise as a business consultant to train the girls and their orphanage teachers on business and fundraising in the local market. The orphanage plans to implement charity concerts and performances for fundraising. They also want to start a dress rental program in which other girls in Bishkek can pay to borrow the gowns when they are not being used.

On June 1st, 2009, International Children’s Day, eight girls showed off their costumes and their new dance skills during a fundraising performance in Bishkek’s Panfilov Park, and a new tradition has been established at the orphanage – the top 10 female students graduating each year now have the honor of wearing the evening gowns to their graduation party. Beyond that one special celebration, however, these young women will have marketable skills and ideas for how to realize their dreams.

Project Smile is a community development program for alumni of select Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) sponsored programs. Grants are awarded to alumni to implement community service activities that will benefit an underprivileged group in their local community, such as children at an orphanage, the disabled, or the elderly.