The St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic women never imagined that when they first took on the challenge of creating little dresses for girls on the other side of the world that it would blossom to astronomical proportions. The Dress a Girl Around the World project has been a labour of love and a passion for many women who have put their hearts into sewing dresses.
The project incorporates many community members from many denominations and communities. The women meet every Thursday in the basement of the church for afternoons of fellowship, fun, and sharing.
"Each lady has something special to offer," said Sharon Musey. "We want to encourage those who can sew, put together a pattern, cut, sort material or buttons, or just want to come join the fun."
The accumulative work of the group takes shape each time the members gather to pack a suitcase for shipment overseas. This time, the two suitcases will be sent to Northern Ghana in Africa. The suitcases will be filled with 180 pieces of clothing that includes dresses, pant-and-shirt sets, T-shirts, and baby outfits. Other suitcases that have contained a total of 1,200 sets of clothes have been sent over the past two years to other countries such as Cuba, Peru and Dominican Republic.
A collection of kids’ shoes was also sent to Costa Rica in February 2015.
In addition to the group’s commitment to the international program, members have also made and donated afghans to the residents of the Sturgis Care Home and Kids First and Shelwin House, both in Yorkton.
It has been a overwhelming, emotional heart-felt project for the women who have laboured so many months creating something special for those who have virtually nothing, Musey said.
The organization is looking for donations of fabric and individuals and sewers who want to participate.
Dress a Girl Around the World provides patterns, ways to be involved and opportunities to deliver or to help fund the delivery of dresses to girls around the world. People from all over are forming groups and sewing simple sun dresses for Hope 4 Women International. There are teams and partners distributing these dresses around the world.
To date over 300,000 dresses have been delivered to 81 countries. People from all the American, Canada, Uganda, the U.K., Philippines, Australia, Sweden, Costa Rica, South Africa, Germany, Norway, Okinawa, Japan, and Hong Kong continue to make dresses. Members really feel that together, the organizations’ members are really dressing the girls around the world.
