By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
ANGEL Gowns Australia is there during the most unimaginable heartbreak a parent will ever have to face – the death of their child or newborn baby.
And it’s the gift of a wedding dress, from one loving family to another that makes this not-for-profit organisation so special in a time of great tragedy.
For almost two years, Angel Gowns Australia has been transforming wedding dresses into handcrafted garments for stillborn babies, premature babies who have died as a result and newborns and children who have passed through infantile and childhood illnesses.
Now with more than 5000 wedding dresses in storage, the army of seamstresses have enough to work with, just not enough fingers to do the work.
Lynbrook-based state manager at Angel Gowns Australia; Vicki Agius said she has had an enormous reaction from former brides.
“It’s been so gratifying for us, and we have re-opened collection of dresses for the next eight weeks,” Ms Agius said.
“When a baby dies, no matter how early or late in gestation, the life of that baby has already been celebrated as a mother and a father … imprinted into our hearts and souls.
“When losing this tiny life there is so much grief and heartache, the same grief and heartache of any parent, of any family, when a life is lost.
“And each Angel Gown garment is made with so much love to honour the life of a baby taken far too soon.”
Ms Agius currently has around 47 Victorian dressmakers deconstructing wedding dresses into delicate, intricate garments for parents to dress their child in for the last time, and said “We desperately need a lot more.”
“We hope to give each family who needs one an Angel Gown,” she said, which in some special circumstances results in a mother wrapping her child in her own altered wedding dress.
And with the organisations first gala dinner and auction this April, Ms Agius is asking for local businesses to either sponsor or donate items to be sold at the gala auction.
“Victoria has been chosen to host the event and we are fortunate enough to have Lincoln of Toorak donate their premises for the occasion,” she said.
To make a donation to the gala dinner and auction or to donate your wedding dress contact Vicki Agius on 0414 511330 or email her at vicki.agius@angelgownsaustralia.org.au
