A Christian charity has distributed almost 4 million dresses to girls living in poverty abroad through a campaign that oversees dress-making efforts from numerous churches and nonprofits.
Dress a Girl Around the World, a program of Hope 4 Women International, has reportedly distributed over 3 million locally made dresses for girls since it launched in 2009.
H4WI President Rachel Eggum Cinader told The Christian Post that the campaign started after she made multiple trips to Uganda and “saw a need for dresses” because many girls were “wearing threadbare clothing.”
“My sister Joan and I took pillowcases to Uganda and taught the women to make dresses from them on treadle sewing machines,” Cinader said. “Soon, the idea caught on, and people from all over wanted to make dresses.”
“We soon realized making dresses from pillowcases wasn’t a good idea and switched to using new cotton or cotton-blend fabrics.”
The number of dresses distributed through Dress a Girl is nearing the 4 million mark as the organization has received dresses from “around the world,” she said.
“Many sewers have said this program gives them purpose. We’ve seen women who were depressed and are now fired up to get out of bed and sew for girls living in poverty. They pray over the dresses and for the girls who will receive them,” Cinader continued.
“We send dresses with people going on mission trips so the dresses are hand carried and given out by those who carry them. This gives the teams an opportunity to share Jesus and His love.”
In addition to providing clothes for needy girls, the charity also uses the opportunity of distributing the clothes to “enlighten people on the dangers of trafficking, exposing tricks that traffickers use to lure girls in.”
One of the churches involved in the program is Oro Valley Church of the Nazarene of Oro Valley, Arizona, which started sewing clothes for the charity in 2012.
David Hillis, a pastor at Oro Valley Church who oversees missions and evangelism, told CP that his congregation views Dress a Girl “as a way to empower people in our church to use their gifts to serve on mission.”
“We are a church that believes and encourages all those who make OVCN their church home to find a way to serve on mission either locally or globally every year, and for many, this is a great way to serve on mission from home,” said Hillis.
According to Hillis, members of Oro Valley Church made 138 dresses in its first year working with Dress a Girl but have since created more than 28,000 dresses to date.
Each November, the church holds a “Sew-a-Thon” event, in which hundreds of volunteers come together to create more than 1,500 dresses over a single day.
“These dresses have been sent from OVCN to dozens of countries across the globe — mostly across Latin America, Africa and Asia. They are distributed by short-term mission teams traveling from OVCN to these areas or are distributed inside shoeboxes through Operation Christmas Child,” Hillis added.
“Whenever these dresses are distributed by our teams, we share with the girls that God sees them as princesses in His sight, and these dresses serve as a reminder of how much God cherishes them and wants to have a relationship with them. The girls are connected to local churches, where follow-up discipleship can take place.”
Another congregation that takes part in the Dress a Girl program is Leduc Alliance Church, a Christian and Missionary Alliance church located in Leduc, Alberta, Canada.
Kathy Drader, leader and administrator of the Dress a Girl group at Leduc Alliance, told CP that her church became involved in the charity a decade ago when a couple from her church came across the program at a church in Hawaii.
From October until either May or June, Leduc Alliance’s group meets every week for three hours to make dresses, with volunteers also including items like flat dolls for the girls.
“We have started other groups and individuals sewing on their own. Others have heard about us and send their dresses to us to distribute,” explained Drader.
“They went to many African countries, including Malawi, Namibia, Egypt, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Botswana, Kenya and Cameroon. Many deliveries of dresses to Mexico. Other locations include Jamaica, India, Brazil, Haiti, Panama, and Guatemala.”
The Leduc Alliance group has sewn or donated over 3,500 dresses for the Dress a Girl campaign. Drader told CP the “dresses are always taken by an individual or group ministering in Jesus’ name.”
“Therefore, they are being told that Jesus loves them and people who love Jesus made the dresses for them,” she added.
“We pray and trust that God will speak to them through this act of kindness.”
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