With formal season on the horizon, the Lake Tuggeranong Lions Club is helping young people find their pride in style. Donations are now closed for the ‘Shopping Day’ to be held at the Lions Youth Haven on Kambah Pool Road, Saturday 14 October 10am-4pm and Sunday 15 October 10am-2pm.

Canberra students in Year 6 to Year 12 are invited to “just rock up” and frock up – no tickets required. 

When CW met with director of the Lake Tuggeranong Lions Club, Mel Oxman, treasurer Nicole Oxman, and past president Chris Rogerson, they were standing in Mel and Nicole’s family room amongst piles and piles of formal wear.

Well over 500 gowns, suits, and accessories will be given away free-of-charge over the weekend.

The shopping was going to take place over one day, however, it was extended due to the sheer volume of donations – a community response that Mel says “makes it worth it to be a Lion”.

One July night, Mel was brainstorming with a fellow Lion about how to help the community in a “different way”.

“Thinking about the current socioeconomic pressures that are on everyone at the moment, and also about how it’s coming up to formal season.”

Thus, Operation Formal Wear was born.

In the past few months, the initiative has garnered an overwhelming amount of local support. “We’ve been on ABC Canberra Radio three times now. We had [Canberra Weekly] and also Woden Valley FM spruiking about the cause.

“It’s inconceivable in a way,” she says, “that we’ve all just come together – it gives us all those goosebumps.”

Ten locations across Canberra and NSW put their hands up to become drop-off points. Not all of them are Lions – “Just people wanting to help,” says Mel.

Contributions have ranged from a single handbag to several suit bags of finery. In Canberra, donations flowed in from everywhere: Law firm employees, Defence ball attendees, and cruise regulars.

The instant they finished their new renovation, Mel and Nicole’s house, too, became a storage point. “As soon as the builders moved out, this moved in,” Nicole smiles.

Nicole is a director on the board of Lions Youth Haven, a combined project of the nine Lions Clubs in the Canberra/Queanbeyan region. It provides traineeships and education programs for children who struggle to cope in a mainstream school environment, as well as facilities for Communities at Work’s Galilee School.

“Galilee School provides schooling for those kids who don’t fit the standard education program,” says Nicole.

While the students of Galilee have first picks of the Shopping Day as part of a closed viewing for vulnerable students, Mel assures that there will be “no shortage whatsoever”.

If you have yet to meet the community kings and queens that make up the Lions Clubs, they are a worldwide network of people who simply love to volunteer. “And that’s what it’s been for the past 100-odd years,” says Nicole.  

Lions Clubs have been operational in Australia since 1947. Nicole has been a Lion for 20 years, Chris for 30, and Mel for eight. Mel and Nicole met through Lions, at an event on the NSW South Coast. “We’ve been together ever since,” smiles Mel.

As for what they wore to formal, Mel’s Year 10 formal dress was one of a kind. “My sister made me a dark blue satin dress with a sweetheart neckline and bell sleeves. And for my Year 12, I just wore some tailored slacks and a ‘going out top’, as it was called in the ‘90s,” she smiles.

Chris says that in her day, Victoria didn’t have ‘formals’.  “When I went to school we had ‘end-of-term socials’ and being a teenager of the ‘60s I wore a mini skirt, Beatle boots, and a top.”

 “I had the legs for it then,” she laughs.

Nicole doesn’t recall what she wore, but does remember that mere hours before the formal, she chopped her long hair short. “Just for something different.”

Their favourite donations thus far have been a red satin ballgown and a smoky square-neck slip dress that might genuinely be straight out of the ‘90s.

“There are some very young and chic outfits and there are some outfits for people that just want to look a little different,” says Mel.

“Not everyone’s style is fashion,” adds Nicole.

They hope to make the Shopping Day an annual event going forward. “Thank you to the Canberra community for supporting our event and making this happen,” says Mel.

“You can only do so much with a dream. You really need the masses to make it come together.”

Canberra Daily would love to hear from you about a story idea in the Canberra and surrounding region. Click here to submit a news tip.