The Story of a Wedding Gown…
A wedding gown is designed and created to be worn on a day that is full of love and happiness. Some gowns are lovingly saved by families and used by generations of brides. But sometimes, marriages fall apart. Or someone decides they no longer want their wedding dress. Sometimes they sell the dress. Sometimes they donate the dress. The Community Closet Thrift Store has had many wedding dresses donated to them over the years. I want to share the story of one of those dresses.
Earlier this year a retired woman and her husband from Richmond Virginia were browsing in the Community Closet Thrift Store. As they browsed, the wedding dresses caught the eye of the woman. She found a dress she was interested in, and she also noticed a sign in the store that said all wedding dresses would be $10 each-the next week. Even though she noticed that the sale did not start until the next week, she hunted down one of the managers to see If she could possibly purchase one dress ahead of the sale for the $10 sale price. The manager explained that the sale did not start until next week. That is when the woman explained that she was from out of town and was only in the area for a few days.
The customer shared that she is in a small group that takes wedding dresses and cuts them down into several small pieces. Those in the group then sew together new dresses and gowns for infants and toddlers who have died. The families can then have their children dressed in these gowns in the casket before being laid to rest.
We walked back to the wedding dresses so I could see the one she wanted. I realized it had been priced several weeks ago, so I told her that she could have the dress for the special sale price. I asked her if she was interested in any of the other dresses, but she said that she only wanted the dress that she had picked out.
I explained to this customer that the mission of New Hope is to offer hope and restoration through compassionate professional counseling, and she appreciated what New Hope does. New Hope is indeed serving the local community and beyond.
This wedding gown that was designed and created for a day of love and hope has now been repurposed to offer love and hope to families that are deeply grieving the loss of their child. What a blessing that this donation was to several grieving families.
Your donations to the Community Closet always make an impact. We don’t always know what type of impact our donations will make on others.
Thank you so much for donating, volunteering, and shopping at the Community Closet. You allow many in our community to receive financial assistance for their counseling sessions.
Story shared by Kim Mowery, former Assistant Thrift Store Manager