by James Coulter
Is your high school-aged son or daughter looking for a suit or dress for prom? Well, they can receive a prom outfit for free. And all they have to do is promise not to consume alcohol or other harmful substances on prom night.
InnerAct Alliance will be hosting its annual Project Prom initiative to offer free formal wear through a pop-up store at Lakeland Square Mall.
Local high school students looking for a prom outfit can visit the store, present their Polk County School ID, and sign a waiver promising not to consume alcohol or other harmful substances.
InnerAct Alliance is a local non-profit organization dedicated to combating substance abuse among local youth. As their website states, their mission is: “To reduce the abuse and underage use of harmful substances along with involvement in other risky behaviors.”
Angie Ellison, Executive Director for InnerAct Alliance, has been working for the organization since 2001. She had previously worked in marketing, but after staying home and working for a few non-profits, she decided to shift careers with InnerAct.
“Prevention is so important,” she explained. “It is great that we have the ability to help someone when they fall. Rehab, picking people up, getting them back on track is certainly important, but it makes more sense to me to help people avoid those pitfalls in life and help them be successful from the junk instead of waiting for something bad to happen.”
Project Prom will be operating its pop-up store at Lakeland Square Mall, located at 3800 US Hwy 98 N, Lakeland, FL 33809 (use the entrance to the right of Dillards). The store will be open from 11 AM to 4 PM every other Saturday on Feb. 8 and 22, Mar. 8 and 29, and Apr. 5.
For more information, call 863-802-0777, or visit their website at: https://www.inneractalliance.org/project-prom.html
Angie Ellison recently appeared on the Chattin on the Ridge podcast to discuss Project Prom and the mission of her organization. Listen to the full podcast on Acast: https://shows.acast.com/chattin-on-the-ridge/episodes/ep-53-the-villains-go-to-prom-wangie-ellison-sean-serdynski
