Rutherford church blessed with hundreds of prom dresses will give them away for free
RUTHERFORD — It is a fantasy for many teenage girls, and a group of 15 volunteers at a local church has been working hard for several weeks to make it a reality.
They filled an entire room with hundreds of dresses just so that they can give them away.
Frilly dresses. Mini dresses. Sequin dresses. Strapless dresses. How about ball gowns?
“We get all excited when something really neat comes in,” said Susan Muller, who is running the operation and looking forward to the upcoming giveaway. “They’re coming from everywhere. It’s just a beautiful thing for people to help.”
Now in its second year, Grace’s Closet at Grace Episcopal Church at 128 West Passaic Ave. has amassed donations of more than 1,000 gently used dresses, fashion jewelry and formal shoes. The collection has far surpassed the volunteers’ wildest expectations.
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The purpose of the outreach program is to help area high school students who may not be able to afford new dresses for their proms and other special events.
The Rev. Karen Rezach, the church’s pastor since June 2020, said she was impressed with the success of the program. “This really is the essence of outreach,” she said. “See a need, and fill it.”
Muller said she started the program for last prom season, collecting about 350 dresses.
This year, she recruited more volunteers and was more determined to advertise the program. She did so by posting flyers in supermarkets, for example, and by shooting off emails to every high school guidance department in four counties.
Patricia Petrula, of Paramus, was recently handed one of the flyers, and she said her eyes lit up — that it was “almost like a sign.”
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She has been collecting prom dresses on her own for three years. She used to donate dresses on an annual basis to a Newark-based nonprofit that permanently shut down during the pandemic.
Petrula still had dresses to give to the charity, and rather than end her collection, she said she decided to accept more garments. She said she kept them in plastic tubs.
In time, she said she became known around Paramus as the “prom dress lady.” Complete strangers would leave dresses hanging from her mailbox, she said, or on her porch.
And for Petrula, a 1988 graduate of River Dell Regional High School in Oradell, the program is personal. When she was a teenager, she said, she did not have the wherewithal to buy her own dresses and often had to borrow them from friends. “I was the perfect candidate for something like this,” she said.
On a recent Thursday, she unloaded her entire collection of about 200 dresses at the church.
Naturally, the volunteers were delighted.
“This has been incredible,” said Allison Cappello, as she sorted dresses by size. “This is the best day of my week.”
The church will collect donations of dresses, jewelry and shoes on Sunday from 9-10 a.m. and from 11 a.m. to noon.
Donations are also accepted from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays at BCB Bank at 190 Park Ave. in Rutherford and at ERA Justin Realty Co. at 46 Chestnut St. in Rutherford.
The giveaway will be at the church from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on March 11. Dressing rooms will be available.
Philip DeVencentis is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
Email: devencentis@northjersey.com
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Rutherford church collected prom dresses for mass giveaway
