Area high school students searching for prom, homecoming or business attire, accessories and a good deal, need look no further than The Formal Closet in Welsh.

Lorinda “Lou” Roberie and LeAnn Guinn recently transformed a storage closet at the First United Methodist Church, 306 N. Adams Street, into The Formal Closet. It offers dresses, ball gowns, suits, and accessories to help students find the perfect outfit for formal events without the financial burden, Roberie said.

“It’s a place where high school students can borrow the attire they may need to attend formal functions like homecoming or prom if they do not otherwise have access to these things,” Roberie said.

The closet is stocked with dresses, suits, shoes, ties, belts, jewelry, hats, purses and other accessories.

Roberie was inspired to start the closet after seeing a new story about a similar project at a school in Texas.

Last month, she and Guinn, with the help of other church members, began cleaning and organizing the space to offer free formal attire to local high school students.

“Things are so expensive today,” Guinn said. “Some of these students want to go to prom or homecoming, but their parents can’t afford it.”

The Formal Closet offers a variety of gently used formal and business attire, donated by the public. Monetary donations also help buy things for the closet.

Ray’s Dry Cleaners in Jennings is offering The Formal Closet free professional dry cleaning for the items. Community members have also offered to help with corsages, photographs, makeup, and hair.

Mirrors and a dressing room have been installed so students can try on the outfits and match accessories.

“I like watching the kids’ faces and being able to help them because the cost of things are outrageous these days,” Guinn said. “It’s not fair for a kid who wants to go to prom or homecoming, but can’t because they can’t afford an outfit.”

Seeing the expressions on the youths’ faces is priceless, she said.

“They’ll try something on, like it and walk out like they just won the lottery,” she said.

“It started out first as a homecoming closet for boys and girls, then my daughter said how about business attire for (school) conventions or college and job interviews, so it just grew from there,” Roberie said.

The closet has already outgrown its space and church members will meet this week to consider expanding.

“I’m surprised at how fast it grew,” Roberie said. “I never thought we would fill it up as fast.”

“We plan to be open as long as people want,” Roberie said. “We’re not a storefront and we know prom dresses and ball gowns are seasonable, but we want to be here to help with conventions, job interviews and confirmations.”

Roberie said the variety of clothes and sizes give the students an opportunity to find the perfect match.

“They don’t just have one dress or suit to choose from and that makes it fun,” she said.

Borrowers are asked to return the attires after the event so that others can have the opportunity to find the perfect outfit.

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The Formal Closet is open by appointment only by texting or calling Lou Roberie at 337-452-9018 or LeAnn Guinn at 337-368-5927.