By BRIDGET COOK
EARLIER this year, Lynbrook’s Vicki Agius put a call out to Casey women to put their weddings dresses and unused gowns to good use by donating them for a good cause.
Now after such an overwhelming response, she is calling for support in a different way to assist Helping Hands Angel Gown Program Australia.
The program has volunteers around the country who turn donated gowns into tiny, hand crafted outfits for babies who are stillborn, do not survive an illness, or who are born prematurely and don’t make it home from hospital.
The angel gowns are then gifted to hospitals to give to families who have suffered from such a loss.
Ms Agius started collecting for the organisation earlier this year and put a call out to local women to donate their wedding gowns and dresses to the cause.
She said they received such a great response, both in Casey and around the country, that the organisation had now put a temporary stop on collecting dresses, particularly coloured ones.
“Australia wide we have received over 4000 dresses in such a short amount of time and have been overwhelmed by the response,” she said.
“Thank you to all our beautiful supporters who have donated wedding dresses, debutante dresses, mother of the bride dresses along with bridesmaid, formal and flower girl dresses.”
Ms Agius said they now desperately needed more volunteer seamstresses to make the angel gowns and urged anyone with those skills to get on touch.
“We seek to build our team of seamstresses and volunteers so that we can ensure our committed volunteers have the time to focus on transforming the donated dresses into angel gowns,” she said.
“Volunteers with only a couple of hours to spare are just as welcome as those with more time available.
“Very basic patterns are supplied along with tutorials on how to put the gowns together.”
The organisation is also in need of more donations for packaging and posting costs, vouchers for sewing shops and items including buttons, ribbon, lace and thread.
To become a seamstress, donate or find out more visit www.angelgownsaustralia.com.
To get in touch with Ms Agius email vicki.agius@bigpond.com.
