Cinderellas off to the ball, thanks to Cheryl

THERE is a small room in Southernwood, East London, from where pig-tailed schoolgirls emerge after a few hours as groomed young women dressed in beautiful gowns and sparkling heels.

Project Rags to Riches founder Cheryl Scheepers, 65, is the fairy godmother who makes sure girls who cannot afford to attend their Grade 7 farewells and matric dances emerge from her home looking red-carpet ready.

“When my daughter Cheryldene attended her matric dance at West Bank High, I heard there were girls who weren’t going because they were poor,” Scheepers, who is a prodigious seamstress, said.

After she retired two years ago, Scheepers and her daughter began to shop at charity shops for second-hand evening dresses, jewellery, bags and shoes to stock her tiny, but magical, sewing room.

“I bought charity shop dresses and dollied them up and then asked for donations on our Project Rags to Riches Facebook page, which had a great response,” she said.

Her sewing room now has rails bursting with 1 000 glittering gowns and a huge crate overflowing with 300 pairs of evening shoes.

“We also do their makeup and give them a handbag kitted out with a perfume sample, sweets and a lip-gloss,” Scheepers said.

This year alone the project has transformed 50 matric girls into dancing queens and Scheepers is now helping Grade 7 girls to get blinged up for their farewells.

“One minute they are drab girls and the next they are transformed into princesses,” Scheepers, who is now extending her makeovers to boys and wedding parties, said.

She has even built up a collection of table decor to spruce up wedding receptions as her fairy godmother duties grow.

At Project Rags to Riches last week, there was an air of excitement in the small room as four girls from Grens Primary School had light makeup applied and nails painted ahead of their dance.

Marketing assistant Angelique Abrahams, 23, herself a recipient of the project’s help when she got married last year, was applying nail polish, dabbing on eye-shadow and ensuring each girl donned her carefully selected dress.

“Cheryl dressed me for my wedding and even helped me with the decor. Now I help her full-time,” Abrahams said.

One 14-year-old said she had chosen a long black gown with silver metallic beading for her Grade 7 farewell dance because black was her late grandmother’s favourite colour.

“This is the most elegant I have ever looked. I am very thankful,” she said.

Another girl, 13, said: “I enjoyed choosing this beautiful long blue dress and am looking forward to the three-course dinner at our farewell.”