BEA dress drive makes prom affordable for area girls

Area girls in need of a prom dress were in luck Sunday as the sixth annual Prom and Semi-Formal Dress Event at Bald Eagle Area High School offered a variety of nearly 400 dresses to choose from for an affordable price.

Prom dresses and other prom-related accessories were collected by event organizer Diane Lucas and the Bald Eagle Area student government before being sold at a discount. Those who donated a prom or semi-formal dress received a $5 coupon, which could be put toward a purchase at the event. Participation Students could purchase a dress or other piece of formal wear even if they were not a BEA students.

Dresses typically range from $5 to $25, with the exception being a slightly higher price for a bridesmaid dress. The proceeds from the sales go toward purchasing additional pieces of formal wear so that the event can offer more sizes and style options.

Lucas said one of the challenges of coordinating the event is finding room in the school for that many dresses.

“We put them in every hiding space that I can find here in the school. Sometimes our social studies book room is really full of dresses,” Lucas said. “With homecoming and semi-formal events, we try to make sure that anybody who ever needs a dress can have access to them.”

She said the dress storage had even overflowed into her home.

“My husband gets upset with me a little sometimes, but he is used to it by now,” she said.

Lucas said there are plenty of donations that come from students or former students, but she also purchases dresses online and from local stores when they’re in her price range. She said a typical prom dress could cost $400.

“I understand the idea of going to the dress shop and buying the dress, but this is a good opportunity,” Lucas said.

In order to promote the event, student government president Charlee Marshall created an Instagram page to showcase some of the dresses that were for sale.

“I posted pictures of three dresses at a time just to give people a sneak peak so they can see what we have to get them interested. I did a couple photos of girls who got dresses last year and wore them to prom, too,” Marshall said.

Caylee Wert was among those to donate a dress and also purchased a dress for $15. She said the color and the bling was what attracted her to the dress. She also plans to wear the dress to the Tim Tebow Night to Shine event on Feb. 9.

Teresa Wert, Caylee’s aunt, accompanied Caylee as she picked out her dress.

“It’s very nice to help out a lot of these families that might not be able to spend hundreds of dollars on a dress,” Teresa Wert said. “It’s very nice to recycle them and have the availability to get a nice dress for a prom.”

This story was originally published January 21, 2018 at 7:11 PM with the headline "BEA dress drive makes prom affordable for area girls."