After Teens Were Displaced by Katrina, a Stranger Helped Them with Prom (Exclusive)

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Ryan LeFrere and Hannah Foret are still amazed that a teen from Maryland donated prom dresses to their high school months after Hurricane Katrina made landfall in 2005

Nearly 75% of her classmates at Cabrini High School were affected by the storm

"They made us forget that that year was so terrible," Foret tells PEOPLE

Two women who were in high school during Hurricane Katrina are opening up about how the kindness of a complete stranger helped make their prom feel like a normal school dance.

Twenty years ago, the catastrophic hurricane killed over 1,300 people and displaced over a million across the Gulf Coast, including Ryan LeFrere, then a high school student.

When her senior prom rolled around nine months later, nearly 75% of her classmates at Cabrini High School