Every girl fantasizes about finding the perfect dress for her wedding day. It symbolizes childhood dreams of a fairy tale wedding; a moment for mothers and daughters to ooh and aah over one beautiful dress after another, knowing that there is one special dress made just for the bride. The perfect dress for any occasion can make any girl feel like a princess, and with prom season quickly approaching, the excitement of planning that magical night will officially begin very soon.

As the recession lingers on, more and more families will be struggling to make sure their daughter’s dreams come true while trying to keep the expenses for these occasions reasonable because every dollar that is saved is precious.

Kristine Enfield of Seaford is the founder of Dresses for Dreams, a charity sample sale that will be making a lot of Long Islander’s breathe easier. What began as a small request Kristine made to a local dress shop owner has now grown into a huge annual event that will be held this year at the Wantagh Fire Department Headquarters on March 13 and 14 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The idea behind Dresses for Dreams began in 1994 when Kristine had heard that someone was going through a rough time and couldn’t afford a Holy Communion dress for her daughter. Kristine had a conversation with a shop owner and asked her about what happens to the dresses that aren’t sold. A few days later she received a phone call from the shop owner. “I have a dress for you,” she told Kristine.

Kristine wondered, “If there’s one dress there might be many more. What did they do with their extra inventory?” She asked other shop owners and was told they either got rid of the dresses or took them as a tax write off. A few months later, the same shop owner donated 23 dresses that Kristine then donated to needy families that attended her church. “They were gone in two seconds,” she says.

In 1997 Kristine really motivated herself to get more dresses and began making new connections with local shops while her church offered the use of their basement. “We had about 200 dresses and passed out flyers. Hardly anybody came,” she remembers. “The next day at mass we passed out the flyers again and all 200 dresses were given away.”

“I knew there is a way to do this and still give back and I needed to figure out how to do it. I looked at it from a business perspective and made a business plan for an annual event,” she says. Kristine collected clothing racks, solicited vendors, found volunteers, did some advertising and tagged and bagged all of the dresses. “I did it all myself,” she says proudly.

This year, Kristine has outdone herself and collected almost 2,500 brand new dresses for the Dresses for Dreams sale ensuring that hundreds of local girls, teenagers and women will be able to purchase a new dress to commemorate an important milestone in their lives, for an unbelievable price.

Every dress is new, with the tags on and includes famous maker wedding gowns priced at only $55, new communion and flower girl dresses at $25 and bridesmaid and formal gowns at $35.

Admission to the sale is only $5 and Kristine said, “If you e-mail me that you can’t afford the $5, I’ll put your name on a list [for free admission].” For those that can’t afford a dress, Kristine says, “We give to those in need, without question. You just need to contact me.” Kristine honors requests year round from people who need a special dress but can’t afford to buy one.

The dresses are all donated by local shops, mostly small Long Island businesses, including Elena’s Bridal, Bridal Reflections and The Wedding Suite. Modell’s donates hangars and another local store donates the boxes to store them in. It’s a huge undertaking, but the coming together of all of these local businesses makes this event very special.

Some women may give an “off the rack” dress the cold shoulder, but savvy shoppers know a great bargain and will take advantage of the opportunity for a chance to save a lot of money, while at the same time donating to local charities.

“I don’t mess around,” Kristine says proudly about the high quality of the gowns. There are some designer dresses that are available including Vera Wang, After 6 and many other famous makers. The dresses come in sizes ranging from 2 to 42.

“I never say no to a dress. I’ll go and collect even one,” she says, and added, “It makes [the shop owners] feel good too.”

Last year Kristen joined the Wantagh Fire Department ladies auxiliary and they volunteered to help her with the event. She collected 1,200 dresses and more than 500 people came to the sale.

“I realized this is not small anymore,” she says.
The event will be again be sponsored by the Wantagh Fire House Ladies Auxiliary with 100 percent of the proceeds benefitting a local charity.

Many more girls will have their dreams come true.
“That’s what Dresses for Dreams is about,” she says. “I collect all of these dresses and get them to people. Everybody wins.”

For more information on Dresses for Dreams, please visit http://mysite.verizon.net/dressesfordreams/index.html or e-mail Kristine at dressesfordreams@verizon.net.

If you know a super woman who deserves good Fortune—and a profile—e-mail your nominations to Beverly at bfortune@longislandpress.com.