Need a dress for the prom, but a little short of cash? No worries. Josephine and Ed Bloomfield can help you.

After starting this initiative 20 years ago with the Minisink Valley Rotary Club, the Bloomfields regularly host free prom dress events at Temple Sinai in Middletown. It’s an event that has grown tremendously over the years.

With over a thousand dresses and suits to choose from, the “Free Prom Dresses” event offers students the opportunity to pick a dress or suit of their liking, free of cost, to attend their special day.

As the cost of living continues to increase in America, prom prep and shopping has become highly expensive for families. Students often opt out of going to their proms due to insufficient funds and not being able to afford an outfit of their liking.

“The fact that there’s so many young people that want to go to a prom and can’t because they don’t feel they have the right outfit due to financial problems is very difficult for me to see,” said Ed Bloomfield, whose idea it was to first start the program, “I’m thrilled that my vision is growing and growing and growing. Sometimes we have so many calls in the day to pick up dresses from people who are donating that we can’t keep all of the appointments.”

Students can pick from a wide variety of shoes, jewelry, purses, scarves, and other accessories to go along with their chosen outfit at the event.

“Kids don’t need to bring any ID; they don’t have to prove anything. They can just come, one dress, one suit and that’s fine, they can go with it. I don’t care if they come from the Bronx or Albany, as long as they are attending their prom and they don’t have to prove it to me, they can come and choose something. We’ve had 12 girls come from Maine one year and they picked out their gowns. It was nice,” said Josephine.

The event on April 7 included a live DJ and a 360-video booth for students to get their photo and video taken in celebration of finding their perfect outfit. According to Aaron Bloomfield, Assistant Governor of Minisink Valley Rotary Club, 174 students received a free outfit at the event this past Sunday.

Donations for the events are provided by local community members and organizations and large corporations such as Macy’s and Nordstrom. Volunteers such as the Northern Academy, Minisink Valley Rotary Club, the United Presbyterian Church and community members have all gotten involved over the years with the event to give back to local families.

After getting in touch with J. Bloomfield over Facebook, Carol Cuevas- Howard, CEO of Glitz and Glam $5 Jewels, has been donating jewelry and volunteering her time to the “Free Prom Dresses” event for three years.

“The goal of the event is just to help people in the community. Times are hard and everything is so expensive and if you can come in here and find a dress and even a piece of jewelry, a pair of shoes, to help with the expenses of your parents, it’s a good cause,” said Cuevas- Howard, “It’s really great for the kids. I’m honored to be a part of this. Josephine is a true sweetheart and trooper. It’s a lot of work but it’s definitely worth it if you can get the kids in here to find something.”

First-time volunteer, Esther Garcia, who runs the “Happy Veggie Friday” program in Goshen, is no stranger to giving back to her community. Garcia expresses her love for the “Free Prom Dresses” event and her excitement to volunteer again next year.

“The goal is to get the students that need it to get the dress or suit that they want or that they see and it just calls out their name. It’s for them to be happy and put a smile on their face. We really just want to make people happy,” said Garcia.

Doris Rodriguez has been volunteering for the “Free Prom Dresses” event for three years after she donated dresses to the program herself.

“Our goal is to dress everyone beautifully, make everyone look like a prom king and queen. Going to prom is like the cherry on top of your cake. After finishing your four years of school, you have to celebrate yourself so it’s good to come out and help someone find a perfect outfit for that night. It means the world,” said Rodriguez.

Students who are unable to attend either of the two events at Temple Sinai can contact Josephine at joromoon@yahoo.com to schedule a private showing of the dresses and suits.

“We hope that hundreds of kids come to the events and are able to find a dress or suit that they like and attend their prom without feeling an obligation to spend a tremendous amount of money or worry. Them being able to just enjoy their prom is a wonderful thing,” said Aaron Bloomfield.

The next “Free Prom Dresses” event will be held on April 14 at 12 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Temple Sinai in Middletown.