Say Yes to the Dress
Up-cycled wedding dresses do more than just impress
Dear Friends,
The wedding industry is estimated to be worth a whopping $300 billion and growing. The majority of Western girls now begin planning and preparing their wedding day at an early age, memorizing every mushy love story from Cinderella to Princess Bride, downloading bridal planner apps, and flipping through picture perfect photographs on Pinterest, ingraining the image of a white dress in their minds.
Unfortunately, this is not reality for many girls around the world. Their reality is oftentimes blood, sweat and tears…the necessity to marry for protection, provision and, sometimes, even love. A humble wedding is meagerly attainable and wedding dresses scarce.
The DR Congo is one such place where impoverished women do not have access to a beautiful gown on their special day. For women who have been victimized by rape or war, a beautiful white gown would serve as an incredible metaphor of the redeeming power of their newfound salvation in Jesus Christ!
And that is exactly what the Ladies Recycling Center—the work program of a Heaven’s Family partner in the DR Congo—is doing by renting gently cherished wedding gowns for needy brides-to-be. Proceeds fund their ministry for victimized women—whom they disciple and train to become self-sustaining women of God.
I am beyond thrilled to report that 7 women have already been blessed with beautiful gowns for their special day! A heartfelt THANK YOU goes out to the generous women who donated these cherished mementos. More than 100 abused women have already benefitted from this ministry!
If you have a beautiful gown that you’d like to see up-cycled to bless others, please consider donating to the Ladies Recycling Center. All styles, shapes and sizes are welcome, as I was told that “the challenge we face is that African ladies are not so thin—in the opposite of other parts of the world where ladies keep fit.”
Blessings,
Becky Servant
Director, Refugee Ministry
Hi there! I was wondering how I should go about donating my wedding dress? I would love to donate it to the Ladies Recycling Centre, however, having Googled that, I can find nothing to lead me on the right track?
Dear Carly,
I appreciate so much your desire and willingness to donate a wedding gown to the Women’s Recycle Center. Your dress will help them to come even closer to the goal of self-sufficiency.
You will not find them on the web as they do not have computers or have many people who can speak English in this impoverished country. There are a few Heaven’s Family ministry directors who make this trip yearly and we will bring the gowns with us and hand deliver them.
Our beloved contact, Simeon Muhunga, has been working tirelessly to help over 100 abused women for several years. It is a dream he has had for a long time and it is very slowly coming to pass, and many thanks to you and others, who have a heart of compassion for them.
The way to get the gowns to us is to mail them to: Heaven’s Family P.O. Box 12854, Pittsburgh, PA 15241
May the Lord richly bless you for your compassion upon the women in DR Congo and their families.
Becky Servant