Prom Dress Giveaway Draws 2,000 in San Jose

A San Jose city councilwoman led a prom dress giveaway.

Finding a date for the prom can be hard enough. But the dress? That's covered.

Hundreds of low-income San Jose high school students were able to acquire dresses free of charge via Operation Prom Dress, a giveaway organized by San Jose City Councilwoman Madison Nguyen.

About 2,000 dresses were donated from department stores and others, with some cleaning services thrown in, according to the San Jose Mercury News. About 700 girls had gathered by the 9 a.m. start of the event Saturday, the newspaper reported.

Preparing for prom can cost hundreds of dollars even before the cost of a dress is factored in, the newspaper reported. So giving away dresses allows many teens, some of whom have parents who are disabled, dead or unemployed, to attend the youth rite of passage which would otherwise be out of reach.

Girls in groups of 10 were let into the dressing area, which had the gowns organized by size and color, the newspaper reported. They had 20 minutes to try on three dresses and to pick one.

The operation -- the fifth annual edition -- went smoothly.

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