Blair’s hosts their second annual free prom attire giveaway

On Friday, April 12, Blair’s Kindness Corner hosted a free prom attire giveaway for juniors and seniors in the Media Center during lunch. During this time, Blazers were admitted in groups of five to look through an assortment of clothes and accessories, ranging from dresses and suits to makeup and bowties.

Last year, Shawn Yancy donated professional attire to Blair as part of her Girls' Night Out events. Parent Community Coordinator (PCC) Farzaneh Nabavian, who is in charge of Blair’s Kindness Corner, took the donations and created the prom attire giveaway event, which is now a yearly tradition at Blair. Besides Yancy, community members also donate clothing and money to the school, funding the giveaway. 

Prom giveaway 1

Photo: Blazers select prom attire from rows of donated clothes.

Blazers select prom attire from rows of donated clothes. Photo courtesy of Alex Feingold-Black.

Lined up on both sides of the Media Center were racks of prom attire and tables with accessories. In the back, students lined up to use the back office spaces as fitting rooms. After trying on the clothes, Blazers had the opportunity to practice their “model walk” on a red carpet and show off their thrifted attire to everyone in the room as techno music played in the background.

Prom giveaway 2

Photo: Blazers can walk the red carpet with their selected attire.

Blazers can walk the red carpet with their selected attire. Photo courtesy of Alex Feingold-Black.

In the center were a handful of staff and student volunteers. The staff volunteers were mostly recruited by Principal Renay Johnson, while the students were recruited by Nabavian. All student volunteers received up to 25 Student Service Learning (SSL) hours for the quality, not the quantity, of their work.

Nabavian and volunteers did not just spend that one Friday setting up the giveaway. This event took a week of preparations from the team. “[It took] the whole week. It takes a while but I get a lot of good volunteers to do it. And today we have been working on it since 9 am,” Nabavian says.

Despite the hard work, Nabavian continues to organize these events so that everyone has the opportunity to enjoy prom and feel confident. “It's a lot of work because it's on top of my job, but it actually helps the kids to feel better about themselves and I don't want any obstacles for anybody,” she says.

The event this year only occurred due to community input, as it was not guaranteed that Johnson and Nabavian were going to do it again. “When I put out the graphic about prom and graduation, I started getting DMs: ‘Are we gonna do a prom dress giveaway again? Or are we gonna have things for you know all genders?’ And so yeah, we said, ‘we’ll do it again,’” Johnson says.

Senior Diana Renderos was one of the students who selected a prom attire from the event and walked down the red carpet on the way out. She picked out a cream colored dress with blue and gold roses. “When I tried it out I think it suited me very well and it makes me feel like a princess,” she says.

Looking forward, Renderos thought Blair should keep doing these events, as she and others feel grateful for the nice attire it provides for free. “Dresses these days are very expensive. Clothes are expensive, and it is very hard for people to afford them. So hosting these events makes me grateful, [since] you know, you can get a pretty dress.”