Jan. 18 -- LIMA -- The Lima Masonic Lodge transformed into a miniature department store Saturday for a popular Lima Kiwanis Club tradition: the Diva's Den.

The formal dress giveaway provides teenage girls with free gowns for homecoming, prom and other formal events they may not otherwise be able to attend without the help of generous women who donate their gowns for reuse.

Sixty teenage girls browsed through racks and racks of gently used dresses -- drycleaned at Duffy's Cleaners to look like new, some still encased in plastic bags -- for hours Saturday morning as they looked for the perfect prom dress.

"We don't want anyone to be left out of these important times of their lives," said Ann Meiring, lead chair of the Diva's Den committee.

The Kiwanis Club started the Diva's Den 15 years ago to make prom affordable amid the rising cost of prom and semi-formal gowns.

The club invites high school girls from Allen County high schools to browse through the pop-up shop at the Masonic Lodge twice each year. The dresses are free -- girls can take two dresses at a time -- and girls can keep the dresses for as long as they like.

"This is a great way they can come in and shop and not have to pay," Meiring said. "You get to experience those big moments and feel beautiful without worrying about the cost of [the dress]."