Lila Weissenbach is on a mission to save the dolls. She recently brought 30 rescued dolls to the Seventh-day Adventist Community Center to be re-used and re-appreciated.
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Lila Weissenbach is pictured with two of the larger dolls available for sell at the center. This is the second time Lila and her husband Ed have lived in Gallatin. They moved here in 1968 and stayed for five years when Ed was basketball coach at the high school. “We loved Gallatin when we lived here before,” she said. So they decided to return and have lived for 2 ½ years now at Lake Viking.
Lila Weissenbach is on a mission to save the dolls. She recently brought 30 rescued dolls to the Seventh-day Adventist Community Center to be re-used and re-appreciated.
“I haven’t grown up yet,” said Lila of her hobby.
She enjoys the thrill of the hunt and is on a constant quest. “I’m always searching,” she said. “I try to find them in thrift shops or garage sales or I buy them from the salvation army.”
The dolls she starts with are often naked or in tattered clothes, dirty, hair a mess, and suffering from general neglect. Lila takes them home, cleans them up, scrubs and burnishes, brushes and styles their hair, and outfits them in ribbons and bows and lace and bibs and petticoats.
Karen Reed also has a part in the recycling. She does alterations on baby garments to fit the dolls.
Accessories like bonnets, blankets, shoes, purses, teddies and toys complete the make over.
Once restored to their former glory, the dolls are brought to the center where volunteers try to find them new homes.
“We sell the dolls cheap,” said Karen. “In the end, we’re not really making any money.”
The dolls range in price from $1 to $7.50. Vintage dolls are around $10.
Dolls at the center include collectible water babies and old baby dolls. There’s a set of twin dolls in pink and blue and a doll in christening clothes. Yvonne Cates of Gallatin also crochets outfits for dolls and sells them on consignment. There are hard plastic, soft plastic, porcelain and cloth, antique and modern, “babies” and “Barbie” dolls.
“I’ve always loved dolls,” said Lila. “I like to see the look on the little girls’ faces when they get a new doll.”
Not just little girls delight in the dolls. The center has regular adult customers, some collectors. The center typically sells five or more each time it is open. They recently sold 19 in a week.
Donations of dolls are always welcome at the center. They’d prefer them with eyes that open and close (if they’re supposed to) and limbs that work. The volunteers don’t fix damaged or broken dolls at this time.
“We don’t have a hospital room so we don’t do surgery yet,” said Karen. “We don’t do long-term care.”
Many people are aware of the Seventh-day Adventist Community Center located at 1207 S. Clay in Gallatin, where between 18-20 dedicated volunteers help out and where between 750-1,000 items are given away every Wednesday.
Now the center would like to spread the word about it’s large collection of reasonably priced dolls. The shop at the center is open from 9-11 a.m. and 12 noon to 4 p.m. on Wednesdays.
If you’re looking for a little enlightenment in this hectic world, listen to the “Dolly Momma” — Dolls bring a smile to the face and a lift to the spirits and are a timeless favorite, for yourself, or as a gift.