Durham woman's wedding dress accidentally donated
DURHAM, North Carolina (WTVD) -- A Durham woman is frantically searching for her wedding dress after it was accidentally donated.
Natalie Gelbert said her husband mistakenly dropped off the wrong bag at the GCF Donation Center located at 5267 Roxboro Road.
"He didn't realize it was in the same looking bag as the Goodwill donations, so all of it got donated," Gelbert explained.
When the couple contacted the store, they learned the dress was no longer there.
"We got confirmation that one of the employees remembered selling it this past Saturday. The manager says he thinks it got sold for $20 or $25," she said. "My heart sunk. I mean, that's not something that's replaceable at all. Even if we were to go and buy the exact same dress from David's Bridal, it's not the one I married the love of my life in."
Gelbert is still making payments on the ivory gown and planned to preserve it as a family heirloom.
"There are no wedding dresses in my family. That was going to be the first one that I handed down to my kids, and hopefully, they can hand it down to theirs. It's just very sentimental," she said.
Gelbert has taken to social media in hopes of finding her dress. Her post on Facebook has already been shared more than 8,000 times.
"I'm hoping and praying that it makes its way back," she said. "It's really nobody's fault here. It's a pure accident, but it would mean the world to me if somebody would like to give it back or let me buy it back off of them."
