By Katie Scarvey
kscarvey@salisburypost.com
“We had no idea that the outreach ministry our church chose to focus on for VBS 2011 would end up serving as Christmas presents for girls in an orphanage in Haiti,” said Emily Carden, a member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Landis.
The idea came, Carden says, when a church member suggested that the Bible school get involved weith making dresses for an organization called Dress a Girl around the World (or DAG, for short).
DAG is affiliated with Hope 4 Women International, which is a division of Hope 4 Kids International, a non-profit organization in existence for 37 years. According to its website, the group seeks to empower women who are suffering from poverty, disease and low self-worth.
Serving as assistant planner for Trinity Lutheran’s vacation Bible school, Carden felt making dresses would fit right in with the theme for the year.
So with the help of some of the women in the church, the Bible school group made 28 dresses with pillowcase dress patterns to go to girls in other countries.
When Bible school week was concluded, the church held a special service where the children not only performed the songs they’d learned that week but also carried the clothing they’d made to the front of the church where a “blessing of the dresses” was offered.
The dresses were packed up and dropped off with the local representative for Dress a Girl, Lisa Ward of Mooresville.
Carden assumed that would be the end of it, but she was wrong.
A few days after Christmas, Carden received an email inviting her to view the Dress a Girl Facebook page. Posted were several photos that featured girls living in a Haitian orphanage wearing the dresses they’d made.
Seeing the end result of outreach brought tears to her eyes, Carden said.
Carden was impressed with the level of care the organization took to give back to their donors.
If you would like more information, go to the Trinity Lutheran Church Facebook page ( www.facebook.com/trinitylandis) or the Dress a Girl facebook page (www.facebook.com/pages/Dress-A-Girl-Around-the-World-North-Carolina).