A woman in Southeast Portland has found a way to recycle wedding dresses and support women’s charities at the same time.
Erin Scharf is the owner and founder of Brides for a Cause. The nonprofit collects wedding dresses and sells them at a discount to brides who not only get a fair deal, but also the chance to improve the lives of others.
The gently used dresses come from size 0 to size 26 so that brides “can walk away with something that fits [them] perfect.”
Brides for a Cause also supports multiple charities such as the non-profit Wish Upon A Wedding which helps raise money to provide wedding dresses for couples facing a health-crisis or other life-changing events. Since 2012, Scharf and her organization have collected over 5,000 dresses and raised $400,000 for charity.
“I started at a non-profit that did something similar, so I just kind of took that idea and ran with it and just tried to improve it and be a non-profit that will support multiple charities, not just one,” said Scharf.
Now she’s sharing her love of wedding dresses with women everywhere.