Dorothy Desens, a member of the Church in the World Ministry Team, has given presentations about a pillowcase dress mission numerous times in the last year. The dresses are simple sewing projects made from pillowcases and decorated with spare ribbons or buttons. Many Faith Lutheran members have donated pillowcases, accessories or their sewing talents to help create dresses for this mission.
A 90-year old woman in Isle, Minnesota, heard about the pillowcase dresses sometime last year, and the mission went to her heart. Throughout the winter of 2012, the woman singlehandedly sewed 120 dresses. Dorothy received a call and went to pick up the dresses in May.
Dorothy said she has no idea where or when this woman heard of the pillowcase dress mission, although she presented this mission at numerous venues in the last year: at the Augustana District Conference at Christ the King Lutheran in Hutchinson, Minnesota, in April; at a Lutheran Churches in Mission for Christ (LCMC) and North American Lutheran Church (NALC) gathering in Duluth, Minnesota, this winter; and at two events last October: the LCMC conference in Des Moines, Iowa, and the Women of the Word gathering at Faith Lutheran.
“This really is the perfect example of how we never know how our words or ideas may impact other people,” Dorothy said.
The pillowcase dresses will be sent to places and children who truly have no other clothes, Dorothy said, including a mission outreach in Nigeria, an orphanage in western Africa and to Vision Honduras, a mission site where members of Christ the King Lutheran Church serve as missionaries. The woman had also prepared receiving blankets for newborn kits assembled by Global Health Ministries.
If you have interest or questions about this or other mission projects at Faith Lutheran, call Dorothy Desens at 320-587-8777, or visit http://FaithLC.com/ministries/missions.
Photo by Lisa Clarke, via Flickr, under Creative Commons