IRMO, S.C. — 19-year-old Noah Peacock goes to Edisto high school and he has eagerly been awaiting a quintessential high school dance this spring - prom.
He has autism and his dad took to local Facebook pages to find him a date.
"Noah's not a very social person. He's kind of shy and he definitely didn't feel comfortable asking any girls out on his own, so he was just going to go with his sister if he had to and I told him, this is your one and only prom, this needs to be special," Gary Runkel, Noah's dad said.
Only an hour and a half later someone commented on the post saying she was willing to go to the prom.
A girl named Haley Dorsey who is a freshman in college and goes to school in Spartanburg but is originally from Irmo. She is a special education major.
Haley's grandma shared the Facebook post with her.
"If someone is being hurt or bullied I'm very much going to step up for them, so she was like, you should do this. It's the kind of thing that I know you'd do," Haley Dorsey, prom date said. "They just want normal lives and I don't think we should let the fact that they either have a developmental issue or social cue issue keep them from having the normal lives that everyone else has."
Gary, Noah's father said in addition to excitement he's feeling in finding a date for his son, he's been overwhelmed with the generosity from the community, offering to pay for their transportation to the dance, for haircuts, makeup and the dinner bill the night of the dance.
"It's truly amazing and it's a lot more than I ever could've asked for," Runkel said.
Prom is on April 15, 2022 and the two will have a meet and greet this Saturday.