Payton Maffett, right, exercises with her mother, Pam Green-Maffett, at the Avondale Community Center. The 11-year-old has lost 20 pounds.The dress at David’s Bridal was light pink and jeweled. It turned her head immediately.
“It was really pretty,” recalled 11-year-old Payton Maffett, “and I wanted it.”
The problem was the dress “only zipped halfway,” there was no bigger size, she refused to consider an alternative and her formal event, the Alpha Kappa Alpha Fashionetta, was too close.
Payton can dredge up every detail about the incident that occurred nearly two years ago. It was a turning point in her short life.
Today, nearly every weeknight, the Boyd-Buchanan student can be found at the Avondale Community Center exercising or playing basketball, dodgeball or kickball.