Prom Dresses and Suits Giveaway for Local Teens #kindnessiscool

I don't limit to any kid, any teen that wants to come and wants to dress for a suit, they're more than welcome to. Well here's a chance to give it away to a kid that can use it, somebody that's going to appreciate it. You can save, obviously save a lot of money, but you can take that and you can put it towards something else. So this is a great opportunity. They're excited, they come in here, it gets packed, I'm expecting it to be packed. What do you say to people to, like I said, to invite them to participate, to help you It's nice, the community coming together. Have a great time with your friends, have some laughs, and get home safe and sound. Hello everyone, today I'm going to have a chat with Josephine. She invited me to attend their prom event, which is a very nice event. They give out for free dresses, suits, shoes to teenagers who are going to attend the prom, which is a very important event in America. It's the time where kids, they leave high school and they go out their lives, college or whatever. Very important, can be very expensive. So I was very touched when Josephine mentioned this to me, and I can learn about the prom, I can support this event as well. You can really see the kindness of people involved in this event. Okay, so the doors are still not open to the public, there are volunteers, they are cleaning up, putting stuff in order. Let's have a look. This is not exactly my style, of course, just joking. But yeah, I have to say that these dresses, they look pretty new. So the whole goal of this event is basically to give, let's say, young people an opportunity to participate in the prom. Because you mentioned it's actually quite expensive. Yeah, it is. You're looking at a gown between $375 up and up, shoes, the hair, everything, it all adds up. A lot of the gowns are new. A lot of them actually are new and about 706 pieces came from Macy's, donated, brand new. 600. 600 or 700, one of the two. They were donated, but they took the price off so you don't go back and change it, you know? Say, oh, I want a refund because, you know, they're expensive. It's a nice shirt, yeah, not bad. And I don't limit to any kid, any team that wants to come and wants a dress or a suit, they're more than welcome to. I don't ask for ID, I don't ask what school they go to, I don't ask what town they live, they come in and that's it. One dress and that's it. So basically, the whole prom thing is a kind of party. And you do need a DJ, of course. What takes you here? Well, I've been working with Josephine for a few years now. I think this is my fourth or fifth year doing it. It was upstairs originally, but I'm from this area. This is my, this is where I live. This is where I grow my family. And this is an opportunity for me to come out and support them as they're, listen, we all know that prom can be a lot of money. Parents, it can be a lot of money for parents, it can be a lot of money for students. So when you have the opportunity to come to something like this and get free dresses, free suits, ties, shoes, or any other accessories, you can save, obviously save a lot of money, but you can take that and you can put it towards something else. So this is a great opportunity. I love what Josephine's doing in Temple Sinai, so I had to be a part of it. What do you say to people to, I guess, to invite them to participate, to help you with this, with this event? What do I tell them? I tell them to come down, give me a hand, help the students find their perfect gown or the perfect suit. And it's a great time, it's a great moment, you know? And it'll make you feel good. They've been here before, this is, and she's, they're from the temple here too. And this is Linda, she's been, Linda volunteers all over the city of Middletown. Yeah, Josephine and I are like the volunteer-ees. My gown was actually blue and yellow, and I thought it was beautiful, and it was very unique because I made it, but a lot of the ones had the sprinkles or the sparkles. All long, we always wore long dresses, we didn't wear short dresses, so, and the men had tuxes or suits, and as soon as they danced one time, they took the ties off, so. In Italy, we don't really have the prom thing. I have to say, well, we have like a celebration at the end of high school, but it's not this formal thing. Ah, well, maybe you could bring it back to them. Where you prepare in advance, and you, I mean, certain style, and you're expected to do certain things. And I was wondering about the prom, what's something that you, I guess you talk to these kids coming, what are the things that you recommend them to do and not to do? I recommend they have the best time of their life, dance all night, have a great time with your friends, have some laughs, and get home safe and sound. I mean, I have a lady that just dropped clothes today, and she volunteered to help. Ah, nice. Yeah, so she brought a whole bunch of clothes, and I said, do you want to volunteer, stay? She said yes. So it's nice, the community coming together. So personally, the best thing about all of this is that, yeah, it creates this sense of community that makes you think that you don't necessarily need government handouts if there is this social fabric that can keep people together. It's like a stepping stone to the next part of their life. So they get, they're excited, they come in here, it gets packed. I'm expecting it to be packed, but I hope it's not that overwhelming, you know? Shoe and a tie made to the dressing room, two suits are gathered at a time. You can go back and forth as many times as you please, but we do ask that you return it to the correct size rack so somebody else can find it if you don't want it. Good luck! She's a volunteer. We're the first time meeting, by the way. Yes, well, aside from meeting you in the parking lot and dropping off dresses. When I was asked to volunteer for today, I remember back to when I was asked to go to the prom many years ago, 1988 to be exact, and I did not have a dress, and I borrowed a dress from a friend. And it was beautiful, fit me perfectly, and I thought, you know what, I'm going to pay it forward, and I'm going to help out when I can. So today worked out great. Let's see what they have for the boys. The idea is that everybody has clothing, gowns, suits, things that either don't fit or we're not going to wear again for whatever reason, and maybe they've been sitting in the closet taking up space and they're like, you know, this is an expensive thing, I don't want to throw it away, what am I going to do? Well, here's a chance to give it away to a kid that can use it, somebody that's going to appreciate it. You know, these kids coming out of school, they're not going to have something their size that fits already because they haven't been that size for very long, and businesses as well in the area that have things that maybe they're not the current style, they're you know, one year out of date or whatever, they'll donate it to us because we're a 501c3. So everyone benefits in one way or another, and the kids come here and they're able to pick out a dress, you know, shoe, whatever it is that they need, absolutely no charge. You can go singly, you can go as a group, it's just to have a good time, the prom's taking a little different spin and it's actually kind of nice because one of the negative things about a prom is sometimes people don't get invited and they want to get invited, so now anybody can go, you can go with a group of girls, you can go with a group of guys. But usually I guess it's boys inviting girls, right? How's it going so far? Well, people are donating and people are... Ah, you just bought this? I just got it, yeah, I just got to hang them up. Prom is a very special night to help people achieve that level of specialty and to feel good about themselves. Especially since they're so expensive. Yeah. It's important. It's important, you know. Also like, especially now, there's a lot of overconsumption and people just buying stuff for really cheap, so to find a second place for the dresses and, you know, to re-love something that's already still intact, it's really nice to help. You drink well? Yes, I'm having a good time. This place is packed. This is triple what we had at the beginning of last week. This is amazing. This is why I do this. I love this. It's amazing. So, wow, that was a really great event, I'm really impressed by Josephine and her team that did a great job. And my takeaway is, again, this mindset of kindness that is behind organizing this kind of event with the heart of helping others. Really love it. I hope you guys like it too and see you next time. Ciao.