Prom is often noted as one of the most wonderful high school experiences, and one of the most expensive. Some students struggle to find nice prom attire for cheap prices. Several students have partnered with Southern Lakes Parks and Recreation to create a donation fundraiser in order to provide prom dresses to students who cannot afford them.

“Prom dresses range from $100 – $1000, and a lot of students can’t afford to pay for that on top of a ticket and all the other expenses that come with prom night,” sophomore Ariana Mansour said. “With this in mind, my friends and I partnered with SLPR to create this dress fundraiser.”

Mansour and her friends, fellow sophomores Jessie Lynch and Madeline Hiscock, first began planning this after last year’s prom. They plan to collect gently used prom dresses that can be donated, recycled and given to another girl to be worn at prom.

“We came up with the idea after prom last year, and have been planning with the SLPR since the fall,” sophomore Madeline Hiscock said. “They have really helped us out a lot through the process They have helped us with the venue and have guided step-by-step with what we need to do next.”

This has been the first year that this fundraiser had been conducted, and at first the girls had trouble attracting attention towards the cause.

“We’ve been trying to encourage people to donate to the fundraiser all throughout school,” Hiscock said. “We’ve been hanging flyers all over, tweeting about it and posting about it on Facebook. We’ve also had help from Mr. Suchowski.”

Girls in need of a dress for prom can signed up confidentially. Once they gave their dress specifications, they received a dress matched for them. SLPR then hosted a distribution day for students to pick up their dresses.

“At this point we’re pretty much done,” Mansour said. “We have our list of students signed up and we have their dresses. All we need to do is host the distribution day and have everyone pick up their dresses.”

Distribution day was on April 16 at the FCCC. Distribution was held from 9-11 am. In order to receive a dress, students must have pre-registered and ordered a dress in their size. With the help of this organization, students can attend prom without having to stress or worry about having the funds in order to look and feel good about what they’re wearing.