The Volunteer Diaries: Meredithe Mainquist

Prom is a rite of passage for high schoolers, but a flashy new dress can cost hundreds of dollars. The Princess Project helps girls cut costs while promoting fashion sustainability. The nonprofit collects new and gently used formal dresses and accessories throughout the year, then when prom season rolls around, launches pop-up boutiques where girls can shop for their dream dress at no cost. The only criteria is they have to be a high school student who’s going to prom. 

The Princess Project started in San Francisco in 2002 with a small dress drive. The movement grew exponentially over the years, and expanded to San Diego in 2008. Today, it’s headquartered at Parkway Plaza in El Cajon and has chapters in San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and Sonoma. 

“We really want to celebrate teens, make them feel good about themselves, and save them some money because it costs a lot to go to prom. This is one way that we can help alleviate the cost,” says Karen Martin-Spellerberg, corporate board chairman and head of the San Diego chapter. “There’s no financial requirement to come get a dress with us because we are all about everybody being equal and having the same opportunity.” 

The experience is more than just picking out a dress, says Martin-Spellerberg. The Princess Project works to create a bubble of inclusiveness and confidence, where all shapes and sizes are celebrated, and all comments are positive.

In the months leading up to prom season, teens can book an hour-long appointment at the Parkway Plaza location to try on dresses and accessories, which they get to keep. Volunteers act as personal shoppers, curating an experience unique to each kid. This year, the Princess Projects also brought dresses to eight library branches throughout San Diego County to reach girls who couldn’t make it to the main event. 

Because the Princess Project relies on donations, they often do not receive enough dresses in “fringe sizes” (00-2 and 14 and up), so they hold fundraising events to purchase new dresses in those specific sizes to maintain an inclusive range. Its signature $5 Dress Sale Fundraiser event will take place on May 30-31 at Parkway Plaza, where non-prom dresses (cocktail, casual, business) donated throughout the year are sold for a minimum $5 donation per dress. All proceeds from this fundraiser are used to purchase the understocked sizes. 

“We’ve got dress drop off sites throughout San Diego County and people sometimes will donate dresses that are non-prom—sometimes they’re cocktail, casual, summer, business. So, what happens is when we are done with the season, we flip our dress store and we put out all of the non-prom dresses,” says Martin-Spellerberg. “People can come shop and get as many dresses as they want and 100 percent of the proceeds go toward us purchasing dresses in the sizes we don’t have enough of.” 

The Princess Project also relies heavily on volunteers, including teen ambassadors, the latter who meet monthly, help organize the store, work outreach tables, and host a fashion show to help spread the word to their fellow students that the dresses are premium-quality and “ready to wear, beautiful and amazing.” 

“It’s all about kindness and making kids feel good about themselves,” says Martin-Spellerberg.

June 4: St. Germaine Children’s Charity Star Bright Awards Dinner

St. Germaine Children’s Charity will host its annual grant awards dinner at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. The grant funds that will be donated to local agencies that work to end child abuse were raised at various St. Germaine Children’s Charity fundraisers and events throughout the year. 

June 6: Senior Prom: Forever Young

Help San Diego seniors age gracefully at Senior Prom: Forever Young, a fundraiser for Meals on Wheels San Diego County. The retro school dance-themed gala at the Kona Kai San Diego Resort will help the nonprofit continue to deliver daily nutritious meals and friendly visits to local seniors.

June 12-14: Walk Against Human Trafficking

San Diego nonprofit GenerateHope and international charity Freedom Challenge will host a 45-mile, three-day walk from Oceanside to Coronado to help combat human trafficking. Funds raised will go toward Freedom Challenge’s work around the world and GenerateHope’s local programs that serve survivors of sex trafficking. 

June 13: Wildcoast’s Baja Bash 

Roughly 300 guests will gather at a private residence in Solana Beach for bites prepared by San Diego’s top sustainable chefs, along with fine wine, craft beer, and small batch mezcal and tequila to support coastal conservation in the U.S. and Mexico. Funds raised at Wildcoast’s Baja Bash will help expand its programs in 2026 and beyond.

June 20: CYAC Battle of the Badges

Local law enforcement, first responders, and military personnel will face off in a boxing match aboard the USS Midway Museum to raise money for the Community Youth Athletic Center. Now in its 21st year, the Battle of the Badges supports CYAC’s boxing programs for underprivileged youth.

For young adults transitioning out of foster care, housing instability is often among the greatest challenges they face. This, along with underemployment or unemployment and a sudden lack of support and resources, significantly increases the likelihood that they will ultimately slip through the cracks. 

Walden Family Services, a 50-year-old nonprofit that helps find stable, supportive home environments for local youth in foster care, is addressing the problem head-on through transitional housing programs that integrate financial literacy, case management, and life-skills development to help young adults learn how to live independently. 

“It was pretty much a foster care to homelessness pipeline—or prison,” says Teresa Stivers, Walden Family Services CEO. In response, Walden Family Services launched an initiative called Independent Futures to help clients between 18 and 21 acclimate to their newfound independence. There’s also an extended care program for those ages 22 to 24. 

Clients are provided furnished housing, food, and job training, and learn basic life skills, like how to cook and grocery shop, save money, pay bills, and budget. They pay rent that’s deposited into a savings account and matched by Walden Family Services. Clients are also required to work, attend school, or do a combination of both for 40 hours a week. 

Roughly 90 percent of existing clients live in safe, sustainable housing, 83 percent maintain stable employment, and 83 percent leave the program with significant savings.   

“There’s a reason why every young person in this country can be on their parents’ health benefits until 26. Research shows that’s about how long it takes for someone to fully take off—and that’s for somebody who grew up with their parents and maybe went to college,” says Stivers. “As you can imagine, it’s more difficult for someone who went from family to family, school to school, exiting at 18 without a diploma.” 

The program’s success stories exemplify its impact, Stivers says. Clients have gone on to become entrepreneurs, advocates, scholars, and loving parents who break the cycle of child abuse and neglect. Many also want to give back and help other kids in the foster care system. Walden Family Services is working to develop an alumni program and build a mentoring component into its transitional program. 

“We’ve done all kinds of peer mentoring, peer therapy, and have a lot of staff members who grew up in our program or have lived experience, and it’s been really impactful. So now we want to formalize that program for our alumni and give our graduates an opportunity to help other folks,” Stivers says. 

Walden is also looking ahead, focusing on expanding housing partnerships, strengthening prevention efforts, and increasing community involvement to meet growing demand. However, rising housing costs and funding constraints are taking their toll on nonprofits like Walden Family Services. 

“It’s challenging for all of us,” Stivers says. “We are all still trying to provide the best care that we can with the limited dollars.”  

Those considering ways to help can make a monetary donation to the organization or attend a fundraising event like the Walden Family Services’ “There’s No Place Like Home” gala on April 30 at The Thursday Club. The organization is currently looking for volunteers to host activities or training sessions for clients, help out in the office, serve on the board, or participate in holiday drives. If you’re a local property owner, they’re also looking for partnerships with those willing to rent reasonably priced apartments to their clients. 

“There are so many things that people can do to make an investment in their community,” Stivers says. “Many people don’t realize that there are children in their own backyard who are going hungry, who are sad and scared and lonely, and that they can make a difference. We hope that people will do that so we can all benefit.”  

On April 11, San Diego–based nonprofit U-GO hosted a fundraiser at Cucina 2051 in Carlsbad to support women in low-income countries pursuing higher education. The U-GO San Diego Wine Dinner raised money to fund university scholarships for young women from underserved communities around the world.

Photo Credit: Madilynn Saige Photo

Clean drinking water is essential. But for San Diegans who are unhoused, access to portable water isn’t always guaranteed. Water and Kindness has distributed more than 3,000 reusable water bottles—each with a custom-printed label with information on local food pantries, and resources for clothing and other necessities. Water and Kindness also operates a pop-up “free store” and hosts monthly clothing swaps (note that clothing donations are not accepted in advance). 

The nonprofit depends on a mutual aid network and volunteers like Kathryn Cox to reach as many people as possible. Here, Cox shares what she loves about volunteering for Water and Kindness and how the organization is helping build community. 

What made you want to volunteer with Water and Kindness? 

My partner has known Jess [Stephens, Water and Kindness founder,] for decades. We were out at a cycling event and were catching up, and she mentioned that she had started this nonprofit about distributing water and clothing. I had just cleaned out my closet and had been trying to figure out what to do with all these clothes and I had already been handing out water on hot days in my neighborhood. Jess said she’d planned to start doing a free store clothing swap. I had three bags full of clothes that I brought to the first clothing swap, and I’ve been at every clothing swap since. 

What do your volunteer duties entail? 

I probably do a little more than most people just because I have taken on a bigger role and do grant work, but that’s not the fun stuff that other volunteers would probably want to jump in on. The biggest things that we have are our three water distribution locations where people can pick up a case of water with information about food pantries and their weekly schedules. And then what I do, the clothing swap, which is the last Saturday of every month, and we have a free store every Saturday that has hygiene supplies, diapers, baby formula, first aid stuff, and blankets. 

What do you like best about volunteering? 

Getting to know people. I’m an introvert, but once you start to get comfortable in the space, it’s fun to help people find stuff that helps them. For instance, I’ve randomly found pieces of clothing that I could tell would look amazing on somebody—I work in retail so I don’t know if that’s the part of me that likes people to get new stuff and be happy about it. Like there was an older guy with a walker who came in with a friend and it was a cool jacket. He was stoked afterwards and his friend was hyping him up the whole time. Another person was excited that they found a pair of boots, but they were in black pants and like a black spaghetti tank top. We had this really cool blazer with embroidery on it and kind of a Stevie Nicks vibe, and a leather cowboy hat, too. I was like, This would look so cool on them. They put it on, and were like, “I didn’t know I could look this good.” It’s such a cool experience. 

What’s the biggest challenge you face? 

Getting the word out. On some of the clothing swap days we have a community fair with other organizations or community partners who come in and have tables with their information. And sometimes we’ll get a lot more donations and we don’t always have as many people to shop all of those clothes.

Can you describe your favorite or most memorable experience while volunteering?  

There’s one specific person who stood out because he came in and was really excited that we had clothes because what he had in his bag was all that he had. I got to pull some clothes, and his style was not my style, but I got a feel for it. I picked up this white pair of jeans that were embroidered on the butt with studs and stuff, and I held them up and he was like, “How did you know?” And then he got this pink zip-up hoodie and some other shirt. He went into the bathroom to change into the new outfit and came out and was so excited. He showed off everything and did spins. 

Any advice for someone considering volunteering as a way to give back? 

Community support is super needed right now. Building community is hopefully going to make things a little bit easier as time goes on. But beyond that, I don’t like doing things that are new, so, I very much understand any hesitation with that. If there is somebody who’s interested but still nervous, they could message us on Instagram and ask for a little extra support. I know the people with anxiety probably feel more comfortable knowing ahead of time that things are going to be okay. Volunteers have amazing hearts and some great personalities. It’s a great community where you can make good friends and enjoy giving back.

*Responses edited for length and clarity.