Nonprofit has a promposal for teens: Will you pick out one of our 1,400 prom dresses?
Rachida Harper Skinner
WELLINGTON — When Laura Wissa learned in March 2020 that the growing COVID-19 pandemic would cancel the prom that her friend's daughter had eagerly anticipated, she wished she could do something to replace that memorable rite of passage.
So she did.
Now a sophomore in college, Lillian Khanna – along with her mother Julie, and Wissa, their family friend and mentor – celebrates prom daily.
The pandemic prevented thousands of Palm Beach County students like Khanna from attending their prom. At the same time, the expenses that accompany a typical prom put the event out of reach for hundreds of low-income students, Wissa recognized.
That inspired her to create Prom Beach, the county's only donation-based nonprofit prom closet.
"Our mission is to provide formalwear to low-income teens to attend monumental high school events," Wissa said. "That includes boys, girls, and however you identify. There is no judgment."
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Prom can get pricey for teens
Between their outfits, tickets, hair, makeup, and transportation, teens can easily spend more than $1,000 on a prom, Julie Khanna said. As a board member of Prom Beach, she said she wants to help spread awareness and add to the growing closet so more teens don’t miss out on the opportunity her daughter had to forgo.
“We realized that this problem extends well past the pandemic,” Julie Khanna said. “Prom is a privilege, and once this pandemic is said and done, this need in the community is still going to exist.”
Today, Prom Beach's closet holds a collection of more than 1,400 pieces of formalwear – ball gowns, dinner dresses, fitted suits – that are stored in Wissa's Palm Beach living room. More were added to the collection in early September at the Born 2 Dress boutique in Wellington, where Prom Beach held its first public donation event.
Sophia Bornschein, who opened Born 2 Dress in 2020, said she has supported women through organizations such as Dress for Success. Her business has faced its own challenges because of COVID-19.
She said she was excited to show support for teenage girls after hearing of Prom Beach through Khanna, who owns Khanna Connections marketing. Together, they established the "Drop a Dress, Shop a Dress" event, which took place Sept. 2.
After serving as the president of the Junior League of the Palm Beaches, and volunteering with nonprofits in her community for more than 15 years, Wissa said she had an idea of what she was getting into when she started her own nonprofit. Even so, she says, while excited, she has felt overwhelmed at times.
After she got the idea in March 2020, the initiative moved fast.
By that August, her living room held 400 dresses. By November, 600 dresses. Now Wissa hopes to open a Prom Beach storefront or office space by this coming March, right before the start of prom season, so students can have a true shopping experience. She said she already anticipates nearly 600 students.
“I want them to feel like they are walking into a very special place and have a boutique shopping experience," she said. "I want them to have their Cinderella moment."
Don't let COVID pandemic take away ultimate high school experience, nonprofit says
Besides giving students the opportunity to feel special on a special occasion, Wissa said one of her main missions is to eliminate the element of shame: a student’s proof of need.
In partnering with 10 child services organizations, such as the Boys and Girls Club, Best Buddies, and the Compass LGBTQ Community Center, teens are connected to the closet on a referral basis and given a one-on-one shopping experience.
Each piece of clothing is ironed, checked for damage, and removed of its tags. Donations not prom-worthy, Wissa said, always find a home.
“That’s significant because she wants to make sure that she is giving (students) quality dresses that they don’t feel like it’s secondhand, and they don’t feel like they’re less than anyone else,” Khanna said.
Wissa's passion for formalwear predates her involvement with nonprofits.
“As a child, I always wore long dresses. Always,” she said. “I have had an affinity for ballgowns since I can remember. Talk about full circle.”
But even with her love for formalwear, she believes Prom Beach is more than providing teens with the perfect outfit. It is about providing them with an experience shared by many others.
“We all went to high school. We all have a shared experience of attending high school. And the two most important rites of passage are your graduation and your prom,” Wissa said. “It invokes a sense of nostalgia. We all went to prom, even though we went to different high schools.”
Lillian Khanna, 19, believes that even though she had to miss out on that milestone, the work that Prom Beach has already done within the community makes up for her loss.
“I definitely think what happened was worth it,” she said. “You can equate the feeling of going to the dance yourself to being able to give that opportunity to another person. I think that is most important.”
The feedback that the nonprofit has received, she said, also shows that more work is to be done for low-income students when the party is over.
“This tells me that 1,400 articles of clothing are not enough," she said. “That barely scratches the surface of the things we would like to offer to anyone and everyone that comes to our organization looking for a prom dress.”
Want to help?
For more information about how to make a formalwear or financial donation, visit Prom Beach on Facebook, email Prombeach@gmail.com, or call 561-502-3486.