BRCC Collects Wedding Gowns for Haiti
Wedding bells were ringing in LaGonave, Haiti, recently, and many of the brides were wearing dresses collected and donated by the BRCC community. Rebecca Evans, associate professor of Accounting and advisor of BRCC’s award-winning SIFE team learned of this “special” request from the Haiti Outreach Foundation. During a religious festival held in August, 15 happy couples tied the knot. But because of the expense, many women could not afford a dress to wear on their special day.
“Wedding dresses are very, very expensive in Haiti and often you just can't get them” said Evans. “But as it is a highly religious country, the wedding dress is extremely important to women.”
Evans sent out an email to her Blue Ridge colleagues in June with the details of the unique opportunity. Any size dresses would do; they could be altered to fit the intended bride. In a matter of weeks, she had far exceeded the original goal of 15 dresses. “We received so many expensive, beautiful dresses,” she said. “We collected 26 wedding gowns and four other formal dresses. Some were from very recent weddings.”
Debbie Glenn, enrollment services specialist in the Office of Workforce Services and Continuing Education, along with members of her church, was one of the first to respond to the call because of all that the Haitian people had been through in the past. “We were able to collect six dresses to add to the effort. We all felt like we had so many things to be thankful for in our lives, and that this was a small thing we could do to give someone else a little joy, “Glenn said. “It was important because life-affirming, happy events like this carry even more meaning for people who have been through so much for so long.”
In July, the dresses traveled first by plane to Miami, then to Port au Prince and on to LaGonave by boat. Evans had packed several disposable cameras so the brides back here could see their lace and taffeta in action.
BRCC SIFE has worked tirelessly on many projects in Haiti since 2007. They have built a school, helped establish rabbit cooperatives and awarded microloans to entrepreneurs. But this request was a little different.
“It was a nice thing to do for the ladies of LaGonave,” Evans said. “Everyone who shared a dress shared a little of her own history to create a memory for someone else.”
