For some girls, a prom can be a daunting event to pull off. For many financially-strapped families getting a daughter a prom dress, hairstyling, makeup, and all the trimmimgs has proven to be just too much for them to handle financially.
With girls from struggling families in mind, Laura Karmin, owner of Ultimate Fashions in Great Kills, has brought Becca's Closet to Staten Island. Becca's Closet is a national, non-profit organization that donates formal dresses to high school girls who can not afford to purchase them, adds The Staten Island Advance.
Mrs. Karmin said her inspiration came two years ago, when a teen came into her Woodbridge Center dress shop looking for the perfect prom dress. The girl fell in love with a short, green Mori Lee dress, Mrs. Karmin said. But unfortunately, another customer had already put a deposit down on the dress.
"I told the girl that I already sold the dress," Mrs. Karmin said, but she subsequently learned that the girl recently lost both her parents. "'All she wants is this dress,'"the girl's foster mother told Mrs. Karmin, added The Advance. Mrs. Karmin said she contacted the customer who had originally bought the dress and arranged to deliver it instead to the recently orphaned teen.
"I couldn't let this girl go home without the only thing she wanted," Mrs. Karmin said o the newspaper. "So I gave the girl the dress even though she didn't have enough money. It made me feel great to help out a kid like that."
After that day, Mrs. Karnin continued these acts of charity to assist less fortunate girls attain their dream of attending their prom.
"I wanted to keep helping girls who are less fortunate, and then I found out about Becca's Closet," she explained to The Advance.
The organization was started in Florida in honor of 16-year-old high school student, Rebecca Kirtman, who was killed in a car accident. Prior to that, she had single-handedly collected and distributed over 250 prom dresses for less fortunate girls. Rebecca's mother continued that tradition by starting Becca's Closet after her daughter's death, added the report.
Last weekend Mrs. Karmin held a showcase at Ariana's Banquet Hall on New Dorp Plaza that served as a fundraiser for Becca's Closet. The $20 cost of admission will fund scholarships at participating schools, added The Advance.
So far this year on Staten Island, Mrs. Karmin said about 50 dresses had been collected, all of which will be donated to schools around Staten Island, continued the report. For more information about Becca's Closet, Mrs. Karmin may be reached at her Great Kills shop Ultimate Fashions.
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