UPDATE: Abby’s Closet is canceling this year’s 16th Annual Prom Dress Giveaway, which was set to take place this Saturday and Sunday at the Oregon Convention Center. Co-founder Abby Egland says the local nonprofit will now look to connect with high schools to try and distribute some of the dresses that would have been available. She said the organization is “looking forward to the event’s return next year in 2021.”
Original story below:
High school students from around the area will be able to get a free prom dress this weekend.
Abby’s Closet, an Oregon-based nonprofit, is hosting its annual Prom Dress Giveaway at the Oregon Convention Center.
More than 7000 free dresses will be set up from March 14-15. Girls can show up with their high school ID card to pick from the bunch.
The non-profit’s mission is to inspire confidence and respect in high school women by providing free formal dresses for prom. It has given away more than 30,000 dresses so far.
Abby Egland founded the non-profit with her mom, Sally. They got the idea when Sally was heading off to college in 2004. They were packing up when they found Abby’s pink prom dress.
“It had a couple special memories, I wore this to my junior prom,” Abby told Drew Carney on KGW News at Sunrise Wednesday morning. “I had three older brothers and no one really to pass it on to, so we decided to start a non-profit that gave away free prom dresses.”
If you have your old prom dress laying around, Abby’s Closet takes donations year round.
Drew has profiled the organization for the past several years, and it’s become a Sunrise tradition to end the segment with him in a dress.
This year, he went with a sparkly, silver one!
Here are other dresses he's worn throughout the years.
