Girls Future Firefighter Camp looks to inspire young girls through “yes to the prom dress” giveaway event
AS PROM SEASON IS AROUND THE CORNER, A LOCAL ORGANIZATION PROVIDES FREE DRESSES TO HIGH SCHOOL JUNIORS AND SENIORS FOR THEIR SPECIAL DAY.
Debra Gardner (Left) and Chief Shelly L. Carter (Right) with some of the donated prom dresses.
Photo courtesy of Deidre Montague
Closet full of donated prom dresses for local high school juniors and seniors.
Photo courtesy of Deidre Montague
Now that the Spring season has arrived, prom season is right around the corner for high school juniors and seniors.
To help ease the expenses on high schoolers and their families, The Girls Future Firefighter Camp held their “Say Yes To The Prom Dress” Giveaway event over the weekend at Latter Rain Christian Fellowship in Hartford, CT.
Established by founder Chief Shelly L. Carter in 2015, The Girl's Future Firefighter Camp is a free camp for girls, ages 13-18, and is an “established nonprofit training program that focuses on empowering young ladies to think outside the box as they envision their futures.”
The camp works to “open minds and contributes to the social and economic mobility of young women through authentic firefighter and emergency services training and experiences in preparation for careers in the field of public safety.”
Some of the courses offered in the camp include American Red Cross Certifications in CPR, AED & Babysitting, Fire Prevention Education, Use of Fire Extinguishers, Fire Investigation Skills, Emergency Dispatch / 911, EMT and Paramedic Training and others.
With prom dress donations from Lastrina Girls Bridal Salon and other generous donors, founder Shelly L. Carter and her team were able to provide high school junior and senior girls free beautiful prom dresses for their upcoming special occasion.
Carter, who is a history maker in her own right, as the first Black female fire chief in New England, the first African American female instructor hired at the Connecticut State Fire Academy and the first Black female Captain in Suppression for the Hartford Fire Department.
She talked about why she brought the event to Hartford, CT.
“I'm such a girly girl, even though I'm a fire chief, and I wear a blue uniform every day, there's the other side of me. I think a lot of times, young women who are looking at jobs in public safety think they can't do the job, because they're just they're too much of a girly girl. Well, I like to make sure that everyone is welcome to fire service and in order to get young ladies interested, we kind of have to meet them where they are. And so, we meet them with our dresses,” she said.
Carter also credits her team for helping her put this event together for the community, especially Pastor Jacqueline Powell of Latter Rain Christian Church, along with one of her board members for the camp, Debra Gardner.
Gardner also talked about the importance of partnering with Latter Rain Church, which she also is a member of.
“I believe it's the will of God that we all work together in the community to service our young adults, our young women, our young boys, but right now, we're featuring our (young) women. So, they let them know that they can do all things. Firefighting, it may be, but God is in the plan,” she said.
Carter also talked about why they chose Latter Rain Church to host their free prom dress event.
“It's in the heart of Hartford, is right in the north end of Hartford. The doors are open to anyone here at Latter Rain that would love to come to partake in the services, but also know, this is a community service minded church. Within the Black community, Church is usually where you go to have food and have gatherings and enjoy our spiritual things, but we also enjoy our natural things here as well. I'm really honored that Latter Rain allowed us to use their space,” she said.
Gardner also shared that she hopes that each of the girls will feel beautiful inside and out when the girls pick the prom dress of their dreams.
“We want to encourage them to be all they can be. We want them to feel like, ‘oh somebody loves me.’ Sometimes they don't get all that at home, but when they walk in our doors, we want to let them know that you are beautiful, you can make it, and this is just a piece that you're gonna take away from the Girls' Future Fighter Fire camp,” she said.
Carter also added that she hopes that the girls feel hopeful that they can be anything they want to become, when they take their dresses home.
“They can be anything they want to be. You can be a girly girl, and you could be strong, tall, brave and physically fit to fight fires. And when you take off that blue uniform, you can go back to being a girl -if that's what you choose to be. I want them to know that they should not be ashamed that they need help. A lot of us in our communities are ashamed…you know, ‘if I don't have the best Gucci outfit,’ that's not what this is about. It's about just being a blessing, because Girl’s Future Firefighter Camp has been blessed, so we want to bless others. That's what we do,” she said.
She also hopes to talk to the girls about considering a career as a firefighter, especially since no one told her that it was possible for her to become one when she was growing up.
“When…young ladies come in, I can have the opportunity to talk to them about becoming a firefighter, because no one told me at 14, 16, 18, that I should become a firefighter. So, we have to meet people where they are. So, isn't that funny, because even in the scripture, it talks about Jesus met people where they are and we're standing in the middle of a church…Once you get their interest peaked, then the Girl’s Future Firefighter Camp will train them and teach them about the whole vast ability of becoming a firefighter. Then teach them that they can do this job… then hopefully at some point I'll see them again because I'm a fire chief, sitting in front of me, asking me for a job,” she said.
The next Girl’s Future Firefighter Camp “Say Yes to the Prom Dress Giveaway” will be in Hamden, CT where Carter is currently the Assistant Fire Chief.
