Prom time is almost here. For the organizers of The Princess Project that means thousands of previously worn dresses will be getting a reuse. The nonprofit has given dresses to high school girls all over the San Francisco Bay Area who would otherwise not be able to afford to go to their proms.

“We really want to give back to the community,” said Wanda Cole-Frieman, president of the board for The Princess Project. “We all have these dresses we wear once or twice, they’re sitting in our closets, so giving back and recycling dresses is great.”

Cole-Frieman has been helping the nonprofit organization from its beginning in 2002. She organizes the annual dress giveaways, where thousands of dresses are on display in all colors from sizes 0 to 26.

“Going through our collection, we make sure we have two to three dresses for every girl we want to serve, and that they are clean, that they are new, that they are reuseable, we want girls to feel good about em,” said Cole-Frieman.

At the dress giveaways, girls simply register with the program and show their high school i.d., they do not have to prove their financial need. Then, each are allowed to pick out a free dress and accessory. They are also encouraged to give the dress back to be used again next year.

“We get all of the demographics because they fill out where they live and their school, and when we check that with the school lunch programs, these are the most needy schools, so we feel pretty confident that we’re serving girls who need dresses,” said Cole-Frieman.

This year, The Princess Project estimates that it will help 3,000 women.