Katie Hartge, 18 of West River and Kaitlin Sorrell, 17 of Deale take a new Ford F150 for a test drive on Saturday at an event to raise money for Southern High School’s prom breakfast. Keeping prom goers safe is the goal for south county schools. By Mitchelle Stephenson,
Modern day prom costs can rival the costs for weddings of yesteryear. And by yesteryear, we're talking the early 1980s. Back then, the average wedding cost was about $4,300. Today, it isn't unheard of for a high school couple to shell out $1,000 to $4,000 for dress, shoes, tuxedo, dinner, prom tickets, pictures and limousine.
Luckily for students at Southern High School in Harwood and South River High in Edgewater, the cost of the prom breakfast is free.
It's free because schools are making an all-out effort to keep kids out of the bars, off the booze and off the streets once the prom wraps up near midnight. So the schools put on a breakfast back at their campuses between 11:30 p.m. and 2:30 a.m. on prom night.
Unfortunately, hosting an event that will attract the teens costs upwards of $10,000. That price not only includes the food for breakfast, but raffles and giveaways as well.
At South River High, they give away televisions, video game consoles, dorm refrigerators and laptops. At Southern, the prom committee gives away televisions, MP3 players, DVD players and even a car.
Yes, for 14 years, Ron Bortnick Ford of Upper Marlboro has been giving away a car as a prize at the Southern High prom breakfast. Mark Bortnick, Ron's son and the dealership president, said that they got involved with Southern High School when one of his employees came to him looking for a donation for his daughter's school. So Mark stepped in and gave away a car. That girl is long gone from Southern, but Ron Bortnick Ford is still making the yearly donation.
This year they stepped in to help with the front-end fundraising to put on the breakfast as well. At Southern, the breakfast costs between $8,000 and $9,000.
Mark's dealership hosted a Ford Test Drive event at the school Saturday when Ford headquarters partners with local dealerships who designate $20 to a charity for each test drive of a new Ford vehicle.
They had eight cars parked in front of the school, and were hoping to get 300 people out to give the new Fords a try. It would give the school the opportunity to raise up to $6,000 by the end fo the day.
It was slated to run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. By 10 a.m., they already had 20 test drivers.
"It's a soft sell here. We do a lot with Southern, and we're not looking to make a big push," Mark said.
Parent volunteer Karen Boyd is in charge of the fundraising for the prom breakfast committee. She said that about 80 percent of the Southern students who attend the prom at Old South Country Club in Lothian will attend the prom breakfast back at the school.
While the parents cook and the custodial and kitchen staff help out, the parent group raises money for the food, decorating and prizes.
Southern's prom is May 9. They will have one final fundraiser on May 1 at Heritage Harbor during the boater's yard sale.
At South River High School on Saturday, they were supplementing their ongoing fundraising efforts with a mulch sale. Capital Forest Products in Annapolis provided shredded hardwood mulch at a discount, which the prom breakfast committee sold to the public for $5 for a three-cubic-foot bag. Students loaded it into cars.
South River's prom is May 30 at Martin's Crosswinds in Greenbelt. Their senior faculty advisor, Doug Brown, said they are looking at all kinds of fundraising opportunities in the next couple of weeks. They'll raffle off a Ravens jersey and send a letter home asking parents to each contribute $20 toward the cost of "keeping these young people off the roads."
"We give them a place to go," Doug said. He continued, "We keep them inside past 2:30 a.m. when the bars close."
To contribute to Southern, call the Harwood school at 410-867-7100; to contribute to South River, call the school at 410-956-5600.
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