Oprah's little black dress raises $13,000

Mary Jekielek Insprucker
The Apex Herald
Contributing Writer
February 21, 2005

A little black dress took on a life of its own, and now will help the lives of others, thanks to 48-year-old Apex resident Sandra Carringer, an active member of the Apex United Methodist Church, and Acts United Methodist Church.

Carringer bought Oprah’s cocktail gown with lace sleeves and bodice, and heaving beading and embroidery for $3800 at the talk show host’s “Clean Out Your Closet Auction” back in October for $3,800.

“I was a little choked up when I made the bid; I’ve never spent more than $100 on clothes,” Carringer said.

The temptation to keep the dress for herself was strong.

“I did put the dress on and it fit well except for the top. Oprah is a little more well endowed than I am. Then I stood in front of the mirror for a while.”

However, Carringer knew the outfit was about much more than just her. The little black dress was to be shared by others and benefit many. So, a plan was formulated. Carringer would auction the dress, just as Oprah had done, to raise money for her favorite charity. The highest bidder of the dress would follow suit; buy it to auction it to benefit another charity.

Carringer’s auction would be a special event, a charity ball in honor of the dress. A website would track the journey of the charity prize.

And so it went down, just as Carringer imagined, Friday night, Feb. 11 at Exploris.

“The first Little Black Dress Charity Ball was a tremendous success!” Carringer said. “We had close to 600 people attend and were able to clear more than $125,000 for The Place of Possibilities, a new community center in Aulander, NC.”

Just a month before the ball, things were not looking so good.

“It was very stressful because we spent all this money and only a few tickets were sold,” Carringer said. “But then things picked up and the stress went the other way; would we have enough room?”

There were several local charities wanting the dress for their next event, so the bidding war was exciting. In the end the dress was purchased by Kathy Ackerman, a resident of Cary, who will take the dress to Sylvania, Ohio (metropolitan Toledo area), where it will serve the Friends of Lathrop House.


“I went to bed and my eyes sprung open!” said Ackerman. “My sister was working on a charity and I thought what could be a more perfect fundraising tool than Oprah’s dress?


So our family pooled their money together for the bid.”


The agreed upon bid was $10,000, however, something propelled Ackerman to go the full $13,000.


“I just had a feeling. And I thought if it was worth $10,000, than it was worth $13,000. I’m just glad it didn’t go to $20,000, or my heart would have stopped!”


The Lathrop House, a stop on the Underground Railroad, was slated for demolition until Ackerman’s sister, Sue McHugh, along with the “Friends” group, rallied community support and over $200,000 to save it. They are now raising additional funds needed for restoration and educational programming. When this project is completed, the Lathrop House will be the only stop on the Underground Railroad in Northwest Ohio open to the public and will offer educational programs for both children and adults.

Carringer’s fundraising monies were earmarked from the start. Back in Sept., Carringer, who along with her husband, Rick, own Carringers Inc., an agricultural management company, attended a meeting to discuss a fundraising effort for a church located in the community of Aulander, North Carolina, All God’s Children United Methodist Church run by Rev. Laura Early.

As Carringer sat in the meeting, Early shared her plan to build “The Place of Possibilities,” (TPP), a community center with opportunities for fellowship, bible study, basketball games, dance, gymnastics, martial arts, tutoring, and food and clothing distribution. The project would cost $350,000. Carringer was hooked, and knew she had to do something to make TPP a reality.

“Wow, that’s a lot of money!” said Early, when she heard the total amount Carringer would present to her for TPP. “Aside from the fact that I know what this money represents, I know that it is directly a gift from God. I also know this will have a ripple effect and more monies will come in.”

The Oprah Show may do a follow-up story on the ball in the future. However, aside from that, Carringer’s involvement is coming to an end. Passing on the Little Black Dress torch is not a problem for Carringer, who will still maintain its website, and travel to the auction in Ohio.

“I really don’t like to be in the spotlight; it’s exciting, but stressful. Now I can get back to my everyday life.

“But this is like when you send a child off to college. You’re sad to see them go, but excited for them to do some good. I hate to see the dress go, but I’m excited about the good it will do.”

On Easter Sunday, Early plans to post a sign that reads, “Future site of TPP, where new life begins.”

For more information, visit Thelittleblackdress.org and allgodschildrenumc.net