Prom dress drive raises spirits and funds in for Sudbury community

Prom and graduation season is almost upon us and one Greater Sudbury woman is doing everything she can to make sure that anyone who needs a dress can have one.

14-month-old Ellie is legally blind. Photo taken in Greater Sudbury, Ont. on May 3, 2024. (Lyndsay Aelick/CTV News Northern Ontario)

This kind initiative will benefit not only those in the area who are in need but also a local young girl named Ellie.

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14-month-old Ellie is legally blind and her mother told CTV News that while there are services available to help her learn to move and communicate the local waiting lists are years long.

Kristina Cox and her 14-month-old blind daughter Ellie. May 3, 2024. (Lyndsay Aelick/CTV News Northern Ontario)

“Every child deserves to have the same opportunities,” said Kristina Cox, Ellie’s mother.

“She (Ellie) doesn’t get the chance to go to daycare and socialize as we already have so much waitlists for non-disabled children so when they are disabled it puts them on the waitlist even further.”

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Cox is a counsellor and a registered social worker – however, she said she cannot go back to work.

“I am having a really hard time finding work from home,” she said.

“Flexibility from employers is non-existent which makes it very hard financially.”

Cox said the only financial help her family receives from the government is a disability tax credit for her daughter.

The dress drive

The drive is organized by Savannah Laroque, Ellie’s grandmother.

Savannah Laroque, the grandmother of a 14-month-old blind girl, Ellie, collected more than 400 prom dresses in 2023 and is using them to make sure everyone in the community who wants a dress gets one and to raise funds to help her granddaughter and her family. (Lyndsay Aelick/CTV News Northern Ontario)

Laroque described the prom fundraiser as a “win-win” to raise awareness for her grandchild and others like her while also helping those in need.

“I want to see every little girl going to prom or graduation and feeling like a princess they deserve that and with today's economy even if the parents are working both parents are working it's expensive,” she said.

“If I can help them in any way I will and of course when it comes to my family well I’m going to do whatever I can.”

Laroque collected over 400 dresses last year so she said there was no need to collect more this year.

“(For a) $10 donation minimum… you’ll get to see Ellie (and) come get a dress,” she said.

The final event took place on May 4 at Talk of the Town Fashions.

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The family said that any remaining dresses will be donated to the Sudbury Women’s Centre.