WE NEED MORE HELP THAN WE ARE GETTING TO SURVIVE!
We have too few volunteers! We need you help in the Bridal Centers and we need other help too. To our knowledge, no one has ever spread the word about us to lower income churches, no one has hosted a bake sale for us, and no one has had a dress drive for us. All these things need to be done if we are to thrive. Can you do one or more of them?
And we need more donations!
Cash Donors - so far a very small group: only Robert P. Jamison (of Robert P. Jamison Real Estate, Inc., Poolesville, MD), Capitol Pool Service, Inc (Bethesda, Maryland), the Vincent Terlep Foundation (Rockville, MD) and Jane Deschak, and a very small handful of kind one-time donors, have made cash donations to us. We need more cash donors to pay our rent and replenish our inventory.
Wedding Gown Donations: We do have many lovely donations of beautiful wedding gowns and bridesmaid and prom dresses and we appreciate them very much. We need more! We especially thank Cameo Bridal in Baltimore and "Juliet's Bridal" in Parkville Maryland off of I695 in Baltimore, two beautiful bridal boutiques, for generous and gorgeous gown donations! Unfortunately we need more active support.
Donations: We need them and we appreciate them. Please read through these instructions as we may not be able to reply to your emails.
Why do we need donations? We must still pay the Bridal Center's monthly rent and we must still make frequent purchases to keep up a nice inventory. We have no grants or other public money.
Do we want donations of wedding gowns? Yes, we do! And we gratefully accept all other valuable bridal or reception related items.
Where do you bring donations? You may drop off your donation on any Saturday at our Bridal Center at 4920 Wyaconda Road, Bethesda, MD 20852 (second Dogtopia Building) . Please remove the gown from its storage box before you bring it in. Please note that our landlord will not accept donations on our behalf so Saturdays are the only possible drop off date
By Mail: You may also mail donations of wedding gowns and prom gowns:
Mailing to Maryland: Wedding gowns - St. Anthony's Bridal, c/o Kristina Gill, 2905 Wickersham Way Apt T3, Falls Church, VA 22042 and Prom Gowns - St. Anthony's Bridal, P.O. Box 621, Poolesville MD 20837.
Missouri: Wedding Gowns and Prom Gowns - St. Anthony's Bridal, c/o Kristin Johnson, 12938 Ferntop Lane, Creve Couer MO 63141.
All donations should be accompanied by a receipt filled out by the donor (keep a copy for your records, we keep copies for the IRS). Click here for the RECEIPT form. Thank you
What about monetary donations? Yes, we gratefully accept monetary donations.
You can make a simple monetary donation by check to one of the addresses stated above.
In all cases, please remember to send us a RECIEPT: click here.
VOLUNTEERS: If you would like to volunteer with us:
In Maryland, please email kregill@gmail.com
In Missouri, please email kristinhjo@yahoo.com
Please click here to see our latest Awards given out to honored Volunteers and Donors. These will now be awarded quarterly and kept on our website.
We hope everyone who visits this website, including our brides and customers and others, will help spread the word about us to lower income churches and community centers in the area (click HERE for a sample of how to do this).
We would also appreciate some of you holding a dress drive for us at your office, place of worship or in your neighborhood (click HERE for details on how to do this).
Other ways to help: Host a bake sale for us. Or, ask your email chain, church, office, friend's group, etc., to host an EBAY MISSIONFISH Month where people sell some extra stuff around their house and designate us St. Anthony's Bread, Inc., to receive 50% of the proceeds. Keep track of your progress and let us know! Perhaps you or someone else you know can act as a seller-mentor for people who have never sold on EBAY before. If you sell on EBAY, you can designate St. Anthony's Bread, Inc., ( our corporate name), as the beneficiary of 10% or more of your proceeds under MISSIONFISH! You even receive a deduction of selling fees.... Ebay has full details on how that works.