At Making Memories, every dress that’s purchased helps women bring a little happiness to the lives of women dying of cancer.

Dressed to Help

To most people, wedding dresses are a onetime use garment. They're packed with happy memories, and then they're packed away. However, to Portland, OR, resident Fran Hansen, used dresses are just where the miracles begin.

Mother and daughter wonder team, Fran Hansen and Anna Nelson.

"One of [a bride's] most prized possessions can make a difference in someone else's life," says Hansen.

Hansen, 56, and her daughter Anna Nelson, 27, run Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation , an organization that puts together warehouse sales of donated wedding dresses (both worn ones from individuals and new ones from boutiques and designers). Money generated from the sales is used to grant wishes to women with terminal breast cancer.

What's a typical wish? Nancy White Kelly wished to have a family reunion; Carol Wright wished for a recliner; Angela Sisson wished to publish a book; Kelly Jo Dowd wished to see her teenage daughter Dakoda play on the LPGA tour.

Using funds generated by dress sales, all these wishes were granted.

"We receive thousands of letters [from women] telling us how thrilled they are to know that one of their most prized possessions can make a difference in someone else's life," says Hansen, who came up with the idea for the foundation when a doctor found a tumor in her breast in 1997. While visiting cancer chat rooms online, she was struck by how many women on them wanted to do one last special thing for (or with) their family before they died but were too financially and physically drained to make it happen.

When she learned her tumor was benign, she decided to use the second chance to try and help these women by using her expertise and connections from nearly three decades of running a bridal boutique. (Her idea inspired author Geralyn Dawson to write the novel The Pink Magnolia Club.)

Today, Hansen travels the country collecting and selling dresses, while Nelson stays home and uses the money that's generated to grant wishes.

Do the mother-and-daughter team have a favorite wish?

Says Hansen, "A 26-year-old mother called one day and asked for a video camera so she could leave behind recorded messages for her 2- and 4-year-old daughters. 'I don't want them to forget my voice or my mannerisms,' she said. It might have been the least expensive wish we have ever granted, but the memories will last a lifetime. You can't put a price on that."

Posted on May 22, 2006