{"id":218267,"date":"2026-04-04T03:13:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T03:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/218267\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T03:13:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T03:13:09","slug":"central-florida-students-receive-free-prom-attire-from-nonprofit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/218267\/","title":{"rendered":"Central Florida students receive free prom attire from nonprofit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tASSIGNED BY FLORIDA\u2019S ATTORNEY GENERAL, CENTRAL FLORIDA STUDENTS ARE GETTING READY FOR THE BIG DANCE. IT IS PROM SEASON, AND MOST FAMILIES WILL SPEND HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS PER STUDENT. BY THE TIME YOU ADD UP THE TICKETS, THE TRANSPORTATION, AND EVEN DRESSES AND TUXES. WESH TWO GAIL PASCHALL-BROWN IS LIVE IN THE NEWSROOM THIS EVENING. GAIL YOU FOUND AN ORGANIZATION THAT\u2019S HELPING STUDENTS WITH SOME FREE STUFF? YES, BECAUSE EVERYTHING IS SO EXPENSIVE. I MEAN, THE AVERAGE PROM DRESS CAN RUN ANYWHERE FROM 150 TO $300. WHAT ABOUT TAXES? IF YOU\u2019RE RENTING THEM 200 OR MORE. SO 26 HEALTH IS TRYING TO MAKE PROM FUN. NOT FRUSTRATING BY OFFERING FREE ATTIRE AND ACCESSORIES. ONE YEAR. JOANNE LARCOMBE IS A MOMMY ON A MISSION. SHE\u2019S TRYING TO FIND THAT SPECIAL PROM ATTIRE FOR HER SON AND DAUGHTER AT PROM ON MAGNOLIA AVENUE IN DOWNTOWN ORLANDO. IT\u2019S FREE PROM DRESSES AND SUITS BY 26. HEALTH 26. HEALTH IS A NONPROFIT HEALTH CARE ORGANIZATION THAT PROVIDES SERVICES TO ANYONE WHO NEEDS IT. SUPPORTERS SAY PROM SHOULD BE A CELEBRATION, NOT A FINANCIAL BURDEN. PROM IS SO EXPENSIVE IT\u2019S $111 FOR A TICKET FOR PROM. IMAGINE BUYING A COUPLE $100 SHOE. OR, YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO MAKE SURE YOUR KID LOOKS SNAZZY. THEY DON\u2019T WANT TO GO WITHOUT LOOKING LIKE A NICE SUIT. SO IT\u2019S SUCH A BLESSING. I\u2019M SO GRATEFUL FOR IT. SHE FOUND THIS PROM DRESS FOR HER DAUGHTER, ELIZABETH. YOU\u2019RE ON FIRE. SHE FACETIMED HER SON GEORGE TO MAKE SURE HIS SUIT WAS JUST WHAT HE WANTED. WITHOUT THIS, I DON\u2019T THINK I WOULD HAVE HAD A PROM SUIT. OR AT LEAST A NICE ONE FOR OUR PROM. SO I\u2019M REALLY GRATEFUL THAT MY MOM IS ABLE TO GET ME A SUIT AND THAT I\u2019M ABLE TO GO WEAR SOMETHING NICE AT PROM. APRIL 11TH IS GEORGE\u2019S PROM AT LAKE BUENA VISTA HIGH SCHOOL, AND SO IS DARIAN BEVAN\u2019S PROM AT EVANS HIGH. ACTUALLY, IT\u2019S CRAZY BECAUSE I WASN\u2019T GOING TO GO TO PROM BECAUSE I COULDN\u2019T AFFORD A SUIT. SO LIKE AN HOUR OR TWO, IT CAME IN MY EMAIL. I WAS LIKE, OH, MOM, I COULD GO. YOU JUST GOT TO BUY THE TICKET, I COULD GO, I WAS LIKE, YEAH, HE\u2019S HAPPY. THAT\u2019S GREAT BECAUSE THE TICKETS ARE EXPENSIVE, AREN\u2019T THEY? YEAH. IT\u2019S LIKE 132 A PERSON. WOW, ISN\u2019T THIS BEAUTIFUL? SO HOW DID 26 HELP GET ALL OF THESE DRESSES AS WELL AS SUITS? WELL, A SOCIAL MEDIA REQUEST WENT OUT AND 26 HEALTH EMPLOYEES AS WELL AS PARTNERS DONATED 325 ITEMS FOR THIS EFFORT. WE BELIEVE IN GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY. SO THIS WAS A BRAINCHILD OF OUR STAFF, OF OUR STAFF, AND THEY WANTED TO BE ABLE TO DO SOMETHING FOR INDIVIDUALS WHO MAY NOT HAVE HAD THE FUNDS TO PARTICIPATE IN PROM. AND THANKS TO THE GENEROSITY OF OTHERS, ALL THE STUDENTS WILL LOOK FABULOUS AT THEIR PROM. ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS. AND THEY WERE. THEY WERE SO PRETTY AND SO HANDSOME. THIS IS 26. FIRST TIME DOING THIS. AND THE CEO SAYS, OH MY GOODNESS, WH\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Central Florida students receive free prom attire from nonprofit<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768911270_880_wesh.png\" class=\"lazyload lazyload-in-view branding\" alt=\"WESH logo\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tUpdated: 10:49 PM EDT Apr 3, 2026\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wesh.com\/article\/hearst-television-news-policy-statements\/14471973\" class=\"editorial-standards border-left\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Editorial Standards \u24d8<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tCentral Florida students are getting ready for prom season, and many families will spend hundreds of dollars per student on tickets, transportation, and attire.However, one organization is helping students with free prom attire and accessories.The average prom dress can cost $150 to $300, and tuxedo rentals can be as much as $200 or more, especially for designer options.26Health, a nonprofit health care organization, aims to make prom fun and not frustrating by offering free attire and accessories.Joanne LaComb is a mother on a mission, searching for special prom attire for her son and daughter at &#8220;Operation Prom&#8221; on Magnolia Avenue in Orlando.&#8221;You know prom suits are so expensive. It&#8217;s $111 for a ticket for a prom. Imagine buying a couple hundred suits, you want to make sure your kids look snazzy. They don&#8217;t want to go without looking like a nice suit. It&#8217;s such a blessing. I&#8217;m so grateful for it,&#8221; George LaComb, a student at Lake Buena Vista High School, said.She found a prom dress for her daughter, Elizabeth and FaceTimed her son George to ensure his suit was just what he wanted.&#8221;Without this, I don&#8217;t think I would have had a prom suit, or at least a nice one for our prom. So I&#8217;m really grateful that my mom was able to get me a suit and I&#8217;m able to go wear something nice to our prom,&#8221; LaComb said.April 11 is LaComb&#8217;s prom at Lake Buena Vista High School, and it is also Derrion Bivins&#8217; prom at Evans High School.&#8221;Actually, it&#8217;s crazy, I wasn&#8217;t going to go to prom because I couldn&#8217;t afford a suit, so like an hour or two, it came in my email, &#8216;Oh, mom, I can go, you just got to buy the ticket.&#8217; I can go. It&#8217;s like, yeah, we was happy,&#8221; Bivins said. &#8220;That&#8217;s great because the tickets are expensive. Yeah, it&#8217;s $130 per person.&#8221;A social media request went out, and 26Health employees and partners donated 325 items for this effort.&#8221;We believe in giving back to the community, so this was a brainchild of our staff, and they wanted to be able to do something for individuals who may not have had the funds to participate in prom,&#8221; Latrice Stewart, 26 Health president and CEO, said.Thanks to the generosity of others, all the students will look fabulous at their proms. This is 26Health&#8217;s first year doing this, and the CEO said it has been an incredible experience because giving back is what they do.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tCENTRAL FLORIDA, USA \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Central Florida students are getting ready for prom season, and many families will spend hundreds of dollars per student on tickets, transportation, and attire.<\/p>\n<p>However, one organization is helping students with free prom attire and accessories.<\/p>\n<p>The average prom dress can cost $150 to $300, and tuxedo rentals can be as much as $200 or more, especially for designer options.<\/p>\n<p>26Health, a nonprofit health care organization, aims to make prom fun and not frustrating by offering free attire and accessories.<\/p>\n<p>Joanne LaComb is a mother on a mission, searching for special prom attire for her son and daughter at &#8220;Operation Prom&#8221; on Magnolia Avenue in Orlando.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You know prom suits are so expensive. It&#8217;s $111 for a ticket for a prom. Imagine buying a couple hundred suits, you want to make sure your kids look snazzy. They don&#8217;t want to go without looking like a nice suit. It&#8217;s such a blessing. I&#8217;m so grateful for it,&#8221; George LaComb, a student at Lake Buena Vista High School, said.<\/p>\n<p>She found a prom dress for her daughter, Elizabeth and FaceTimed her son George to ensure his suit was just what he wanted.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Without this, I don&#8217;t think I would have had a prom suit, or at least a nice one for our prom. So I&#8217;m really grateful that my mom was able to get me a suit and I&#8217;m able to go wear something nice to our prom,&#8221; LaComb said.<\/p>\n<p>April 11 is LaComb&#8217;s prom at Lake Buena Vista High School, and it is also Derrion Bivins&#8217; prom at Evans High School.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Actually, it&#8217;s crazy, I wasn&#8217;t going to go to prom because I couldn&#8217;t afford a suit, so like an hour or two, it came in my email, &#8216;Oh, mom, I can go, you just got to buy the ticket.&#8217; I can go. It&#8217;s like, yeah, we was happy,&#8221; Bivins said. &#8220;That&#8217;s great because the tickets are expensive. Yeah, it&#8217;s $130 per person.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>A social media request went out, and 26Health employees and partners donated 325 items for this effort.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We believe in giving back to the community, so this was a brainchild of our staff, and they wanted to be able to do something for individuals who may not have had the funds to participate in prom,&#8221; Latrice Stewart, 26 Health president and CEO, said.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks to the generosity of others, all the students will look fabulous at their proms. This is 26Health&#8217;s first year doing this, and the CEO said it has been an incredible experience because giving back is what they do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ASSIGNED BY FLORIDA\u2019S ATTORNEY GENERAL, CENTRAL FLORIDA STUDENTS ARE GETTING READY FOR THE BIG DANCE. IT IS PROM&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218268,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[99147,67294,99150,99149,9322,17444,25247,28,30,29,99146,99148,20922,99145,1960,2956,4182,1798],"class_list":{"0":"post-218267","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-26health","9":"tag-accessory","10":"tag-average-prom-dress","11":"tag-central-florida-student","12":"tag-ceo","13":"tag-daughter","14":"tag-dollar","15":"tag-florida","16":"tag-florida-headlines","17":"tag-florida-news","18":"tag-free-prom-attire","19":"tag-george-lacomb","20":"tag-mom","21":"tag-prom-suit","22":"tag-son","23":"tag-student","24":"tag-ticket","25":"tag-transportation"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}