Every spring, thousands of students across the country celebrate a rite of passage: Prom. According to the magazine "Your Prom", the average prom goer spends $638, and low-income students and schools seem to be keeping the pace. This is the conundrum faced by many students from Noel D’Allacco's former school district in Yonkers, NY, where upwards of 66% qualify for the free-lunch program. Self proclaimed Promologist, Noel D’Allacco, founded Operation PROM in 2005, now a recognized Not-for-Profit Charitable Organization. Operation PROM was originally established to help low-income students attend their proms by providing free prom dresses and tuxedo rentals. It has since expanded to also help students with regular donations of food, clothing and school supplies as well. She primarily assists students who are sick, homeless or live in shelters and do not have family to assist them. |
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| Press Release |
| 501 c 3 Not-for-Profit Organization |
D'Allacco runs Operation PROM while also working as an adjunct professor at the College
of Westchester in White Plains.
To date, Operation PROM has helped thousands of students attend their prom at little or no
cost. In addition to providing free prom dresses and tuxedo rentals, D’Allacco has started a
Leadership Scholarship Fund. One scholarship will go to a student who has shown
exceptional leadership capabilities, and academic excellence, despite financial hardship.
The recipient is selected by Operation PROM’s leadership committee.
To request a free prom dress or tuxedo, students must be recommended by their guidance
counselor and meet the requirements such as a severe financial need, and the student should
be passing all of their classes. Hundreds of people contact D’Allacco to donate dresses,
but she receives thousands of requests from students who need the dresses and sadly,
sometimes cannot fulfill every size request.
While D’Allacco has worked out tuxedo rentals at a reduced cost, students still have to pay
a fee, so financial donations help her to assist young men in need with offsetting this cost.
Operation PROM will start a back to school supplies drive in July, collecting new
notebooks, pencils, crayons and other items to help students whose families cannot afford to
purchase what their school has required for the school year.
“Our goal is to expand throughout New York State and increase the number of donations
for the coming year," said D’Allacco. “I also hope that students who may not need our
services can contribute by running dress drives and fundraisers in their schools.”
For immediate release - contact: Noel D'Allacco (914) 672-3070
| Founder, Noel D'Allacco Bloomingdale's Dress Drive March 2009 |
| Operation PROM in the news: The New York Times NY Times.com CBS 2 News The Journal News |