Southold Town Youth Bureau hosts fifth annual prom dress giveaway
With prom season approaching, the Southold Town Youth Bureau offers the chance to be the belle of the ball without the hefty price tag.
Around 200 teens and their parents flocked to Southold Town’s Peconic Community Center last weekend for the youth bureau’s fifth annual dress giveaway. The affair offers teens a chance to try on and take home the dress of their dreams for free.
On Friday evening, dress shoppers spent more than an hour searching for “the one.”
“I’m looking for sort of a 1920s look,” Southold High School junior Jordani Chacon, 17, said. “But my theme for prom is enchanted forest, so I want to bring an earthy tone to my dress. I picked out a sage green dress that has a 1920’s vibe. It fits me perfectly, there are all the sizes here so it’s really nice to find a dress that’s just for you.”
The youth bureau’s annual dress giveaway alleviates the economic strain the beloved high school tradition has put on American families for decades. Youth bureau community relations specialist Tracey Moloney, a graduate of Shoreham-Wading River High School, said she babysat and worked as a gate guard at Shoreham Beach to shell out $600 for her prom in 1988. Average prom night costs today can easily eclipse $1000, according to popular prom and wedding dress maker, Amarra.
“Between the dress, the alterations, the shoes, the bag, the limo … my heart goes out to the girls because they want to look like rock stars,” Ms. Moloney said. “They want this to be the best night of their lives.”
Jordani Chacon holds a sage green dress perfect for Southold High School’s enchanted forest-themed prom. (Credit Nicholas Grasso) 
Sisters Jazmine and Jada Hubbard, joined by their cousin and mother, hold the dresses they will wear to prom. (Credit Nicholas Grasso) 
Darlene Hubbard loves the blue dress her younger daughter Jada Hubbard tried on Friday evening. (Credit Nicholas Grasso)
At the community center, teens were also welcome to take home a dress for other formal occasions. Among those wowing her peers and her mother as she walked out of the dressing room Friday was 14-year-old Kimberly Avalos, looking for a quinceañera dress.
“It has to be something you really love,” she said. “I’m looking for like a pink, big one that’s big and poofy at the end and goes off the shoulders.”
“It’s a once in a lifetime thing,” her mother, Elizabeth Avalos, added.
In recent weeks, staff members from the youth bureau, various libraries across Southold Town and CAST collected dresses and accessories donated by members of the community as well as bridal shops, the North Fork Parish Outreach and the Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital Opportunity Shop, adding to the hundreds of dresses donated to the town over the last five years.
In previous years, teens who took home dresses donated them back to the youth bureau, Ms. Moloney said. Those who choose to donate their dress — or another dress they may have tucked away in their closet — will earn one hour of community service.
The work that went into the dress giveaway, from hanging the dresses to decorating the community center, proved worthwhile as teens left happy Friday evening. Among the satisfied shoppers were sisters Jazmine and Jada Hubbard. Jazmine, a 17-year-old junior at Greenport High School, agreed to take her freshman sister to the prom as her guest.
“I asked her and she said yes without hesitation,” said Jada, 15.
Although Jada originally tried on a beautiful blue dress, she ultimately left with a burgundy gown, while her older sister will sport a vibrant red dress at the prom on May 26.
“It has a better fit and the color is so pretty,” Jada said. “And I get to match with her.”
Teens and their family members who could not attend last weekend’s giveaway are welcome to make an appointment with Ms. Moloney to browse and try on dresses. They may call her at 631-765-8251 or email her at [email protected].
