Dorcas Society
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A Dorcas Society is a local group of people, usually based in a church, with a mission of providing clothing to the poor.
The original society was founded in Douglas, Isle of Man on December 1, 1834, as part of the community's thanksgiving for being spared from an outbreak of cholera. The poorer families in town had their clothes and bedding destroyed as part of the effort to prevent the disease. Today there are other Dorcas societies around the world, providing clothing and other physical needs.
The society is named after a character (Tabitha, also called Dorcas) described in the Acts of the Apostles (Chapter 9, v. 36).
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This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia.
