Manhattan Store Repays Far Rockaway Resident For Her Efforts Collecting Dresses For Sandy Victims

They say one good turn deserves another, and sometimes, many good turns lead to something extra special. NY1’s Diane King Hall has the story of a woman from Far Rockaway whose concern for others was repaid in a way she never expected.

When Angela Hines showed up at Kleinfeld on West 20th Street, she was hoping to pick up some dresses for young women living in the Rockaways who were affected by Hurricane Sandy as part of her work as head of the nonprofit she started, Project Window.

She didn’t know there was a special dress waiting for her. A white one.

Hines had confided to a friend that she never had a real wedding and wanted to renew her vows. The friend told Kleinfeld, and the store took it from there.

“Oh my goodness, this is so amazing,” Hines said. “Wow. This is awesome. I don’t even know what to say.”

Hines thought she was there to talk about her charity. She got the chance, but only after the big reveal.

“I said, ‘How do you ask for a prom dress when your mother can’t afford to put the floors back or are trying put the walls up?'” Hines said. “So we decided to collect dresses. I called up a few of my friends and [said], ‘Go through your closets and give me some dresses.'”

One of those friends, Kimberly Wong, reached out on her behalf.

“It just clicked one morning,” Wong said. ‘Oh, let’s get her to Kleinfeld’s, and maybe Kleinfeld’s would be able to do something great for her.'”

“When somebody is working with children or, in this case, she is working with teenagers who are having proms and got wiped out from the hurricane, couldn’t get their dresses and things like that,” said Ronald Rothstein, the owner of Kleinfeld. “So we’re happy to help her.”

The store did so while conducting its legendary warehouse sale.

“We have approximately 2,000 samples in the store, and every year, we probably replace 1,200 of them,” Rothstein said. “This year, they decided to replace all 2,000 dresses.”

In some cases, Kleinfeld said some of the dresses have never been touched before by human hands. They mean they were never tried on.

The lowest price was $499. Of course, a few others were free. Some were destined for the prom, and one for a wedding in white