Purses With A Purpose in 3rd Year

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by Morgan Fogarty
Bio | Email | Follow: @MorganFogarty

Story Created: Feb 24, 2011 at 10:10 PM EDT

Story Updated: Feb 25, 2011 at 8:41 AM EDT

MATTHEWS, N.C. - It's probably not what you'd expect to see behind a garage door, but in Kelly DeMario's Matthews home, it is where about a thousand purses are housed.  She says, "It's fun and girls can't resist!  DeMario is the woman behind "Purses With A Purpose," an idea she dreamed up three years ago to help raise money for the American Cancer Society.

All year long, she collects new and gently used bags and then sells them all in May.  Nothing is over 50 bucks not even the designer stuff.  She says, "Real Louis (Vuitton), real Gucci, 50 dollars.  The most that we sold a Coach for was $45 last year."

There's everything from real designer bags to knock offs to vintage purses like a 1940's lucite bag (currently selling on internet auction sites for about $250) to Vera Bradley to Michael Kors.

Last year, "Purses With A Purpose" raised about $4,200 for the American Cancer Society and they're on track to raise even more this year because more people are donating, like Mary Sauer of Waxhaw.  She collected 114 bags.  She says, "More and more purses kept coming and friends kept telling friends and family kept telling family and Facebook and it just exploded."

The "Purses With A Purpose" team wants to make it as easy as possible for you to participate, so if you have bags to donate, they'll come pick them up from you. All you have to do is find them on Facebook to schedule a time.

For women like Sauer, the fundraiser gives her and her friends a chance to clean out their closets with no guilt.  She says, "Women have extra purses and they don't like to throw them away."

Even local celebrities like Christy Roberts,  Mrs. South Carolina Woman 2011, are helping collect bags, too.  DeMario is excited to see what Roberts will donate.  "Beauty pageants girls? They have to have closets full of purses, so we're looking forward to see how many come in!"

DeMario will collect donated bags right up until the sale, which is Saturday, May 7th.  It's first come, first serve.  Because it's gotten so big this year, they're still trying to figure out where it'll be.  Check out "Purses With A Purpose" on Facebook for updates.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Purses-with-a-Purpose/116613181728822

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