Each year, the prospect of the year 12 formal lurks in the back of the minds of the graduating cohorts, and deciding what to wear can be more daunting than the HSC itself.
For departing students of The Rivers Secondary College, this anxiety was luckily quelled this year thanks to Thread Together.
Year 12 student, Luke Crawford, was feeling very dapper and said that without the program he wouldn't have had a suit for the formal.
Thread Together is a non-for-profit that provides clothing to communities and people in need through saving end-of-season garments that go to landfill.
Since its formation 11 years ago, it has continued to grow and in 2022 they redistributed 1.2 million units of clothing.
Former Lismore resident and board member of Thread Together, Adam Worling, said that at the heart of the organisation is a drive to help people in need and to help curb climate change.
"We deal with people living in domestic violence situations, new arrivals, refugees and people coming out of incarceration," he said.
The first time that Thread Together ran a campaign to support Lismore was when the floods hit in 2022.
They set up a clothing hub at the showground where they stayed for 5 months to support the community.
Within the first two days of setting up they gave away 16 000 units of clothing and over the 5 months they gave around 450 000 units.
The program that has seen local students getting dressed in designer threads started last year, and stemmed from Adam Worling wanting to do more for his home town.
When the first clothing hub was coming to an end, Mr Worling thought that due to the Rivers Secondary College being shut down, they would have a big school formal to boost the students morale.
He proposed his idea, and unsurprisingly the schools were eager to launch the program.
This year 91 students from across the region were gifted with designer attire, and they can now head into the remainder of their exams with the added confidence that their formal outfits are sorted.
