Please drop off any dresses at Whitmore Ace Hardware Stores ...Wilmington, Braidwood, Manteno, Manhattan, Mokena, New Lenox, Coal City, Minooka, Morris, Plainfield, Downers Grove, Lockport, Joliet, Homer Glen and now in our new location in Willowbrook Melissa’s radiant smile and joyful attitude made her presence at Whitmore Ace Hardware truly special. Tragically, that December, Melissa and her fri
end Crystal Carr lost their lives in a car accident. Feeling compelled to honor Melissa's memory, our staff at Whitmore Ace Hardware wanted to take action. Many of our student employees were discussing the financial burden of attending prom, from dresses and tuxedos to limos and accessories—expenses that some students simply couldn’t afford. With fourteen locations in different communities, Whitmore Ace Hardware saw an opportunity to help. We proposed collecting gently worn prom dresses in our stores, and the owners, Mike, Michael, and David Cripe, wholeheartedly supported the idea. Thus, Melissa’s Closet and Crystal’s Jewelry Box were born. Reed Custer High School, along with a local home economics teacher, provided a room for us to sell these dresses for $5 each, one day after school. In our first year, we gathered 120 dresses. To date, we’ve had the honor of helping over 5,180 girls find the perfect prom dress. Thanks to the generous support of the Godley Park District, we’ve been able to host the event in their gymnasium. In 2024, we displayed 2,872 prom dresses and set up 23 dressing rooms, allowing students to try on up to three dresses at a time. Last year, over 100 volunteers joined us to make the event a success. We’ve even received donations of new dresses from local prom stores, along with jewelry, shoes, and purses. In 2015, we granted our first Melissa’s Closet and Crystal’s Jewelry Box Scholarship. By 2024, we have awarded $10,500 in scholarships, with the goal of increasing this amount every year. Scholarship forms are available on melissascloset.org. Each year, on the first Saturday of March at 9 am, a crowd of eager young students gathers, waiting for the doors to open.
