Non-Profit Steps In To Dress Girls For Prom
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – This time of the year, young girls across the nation are thinking about their upcoming proms and what they'll wear but not all of them can afford that perfect dress. Programs across the country are helping out.
Racks of dresses hold so much promise for high school senior Andrea Maldonado.
"I just want to stand out from everybody else and look unique in my own dress," said Maldonado.
She's attending her senior prom at the end of May, but buying a fancy dress was out of the question.
Her mother struggles to raise five children by herself.
"I never want them to feel like they're – that they can't have what other children have… be it a simple dress. Tuxedo…shoes…it's hard," said Maldonado's mother Eda Ulloa.
In a chilly warehouse in Staten Island, New York, all the dresses are free to girls who need them.
Dennis McKeon started the non-profit organization Where to Turn after 9/11 to help victim's families with their needs, including prom dresses.
"The prom is a rite of passage, right. Nobody should be denied the right to go to their prom just because they can't afford to buy a dress," said McKeon.
The organization gets donations of three to five hundred dresses every year. They vary in size and length so every girl can find their perfect dress.
Every state in the nation has at least one free prom dress program.
The New York City group is one of many that accepts used dresses from all over the country. For more information, click here.