Amy Hill (r) co-chair of the Cinderella Project, accepts a donated dress from Katherine Myers. Myers originally got the dress from last year's project. Photo by Amanda Taylor

Pumpkins, mice, and a fairy godmother got the fairy-tale Cinderella to the ball. But real-life Cinderellas in Columbia just needed young lawyers and generous gifts from Columbians.

On Saturday, March 11, 2006, USC's School of Law was transformed into a prom dress boutique thanks to the SC Bar Young Lawyers Division's Cinderella Project. The Cinderella Project provides gently used formal dresses to young women throughout Columbia who need a little help getting to their high school proms.

For months, area lawyers have been collecting donated dresses and accessories for the project. Now in its sixth year in Columbia, the Cinderella Project is also held in cities throughout the US, including Greenville and Greenwood, SC.

According to Ariail King, co-chair of the event and lawyer with Lewis & Babcock, "This year 121 young women from 24 area high schools attended the event and 92 found dresses to take home."

There were some leftover dresses at the end of the day, but that is good, King said, because "That will give us a head start for next year."

King's role in the event on Saturday was helping the young women find dresses. The other co-chair, Amy Hill of Sowell, Gray, Stepp & Laffitte, greeted the attendees and worked the registration table. Many other young lawyers were also on hand Saturday to help the project run smoothly.

King said, for her, "[The Cinderella Project] is a way to give something back to the community that's very different from what I do in my professional life." She added, "It also gives me a lot of contact with young people, which is inspiring."