“It is with heartfelt pride that I announce the project has sent so many items since 2011,” Little Dresses Project Manager Mary Warner of New Ulm told the Council of Catholic Women in Springfield.

“What a dramatic accomplishment. I place all the credit to volunteer sewers and those who have given so much of their time and supplies to this project. It has been a feeling of complete joy to see this project bloom into a beautiful, productive venture,” Warner said.

She talked more about her feelings.

“This is such a ‘feel good’ project for all involved. The children benefit the most with all our tender, loving care we put into each dress and pair of shorts,” added Warner.

Submitted photo Indonesian children wear dresses sewn by Little Dresses volunteers. Below, Little Dresses volunteers, front row, from left, Mary Warner, Catherine Cowley. Back row, Miriam Hoffmann, Vicki Versch, Melissa Fitterer and Mariah Koester.

The project operating in Warner’s basement has 25 volunteers, 19 of which are sewers.

Little Dresses has sent clothing to children in Uganda, Sierra Leone, the Philippines, Jamaica, Gambia, Tanzania, Liberia, Honduras, Haiti, New Guinea, the Dominican Republic, Kenya, Nigeria, Guatemala, Sudan, South Africa, Ecuador, Bulgaria, Indian, Grenada, Indonesia, Antigua, St. Lucia, and are churches participating in Christmas Boxes projects.

Based on a simple pattern, dresses take two hours to make. Shorts take about 45 minutes.

Little Dresses began Feb. 1, 2011, in a classroom at the former New Ulm Junior High School (now Emerson Union Apartments) with help from CAST (Community and Seniors Together).

“We overhead a conversation in a Sleepy Eye thrift store and learned about Little Dresses For Africa (a Christian non-profit organization providing humanitarian relief including dresses, clean water, education and community),” said Warner.

“Hearing about the organization, we thought it might be a good thing for seniors to get involved with. We felt it was useful and would make everybody happy. We modified our project a little bit. We wanted to go where all our dresses and pants would go so we send our dresses to our own destinations,” she added.

Keeping a journal of where Little Dresses boxes went, Warner documented many project highlights.

In November 2018, Little Dresses volunteers were referred to Martin Luther College (MLC) students preparing to teach in Antiqua. Students picked up 40 dresses from the group to send with them.

Little Dresses sent 107 dresses and 100 shorts in April 2019 to a medical team from Sioux Falls Avera Hospital & Clinic in Haiti.

Soon after that, Father Cornelius of New ulm picked up 700 dresses and 455 shorts to ship to his native Nigeria. A shipping container was filled to the top with other items needed to improve life for families.

Submitted photo Mexican children show off dresses from the New Ulm-based Little Dresses project through the Smiles International Foundation

“You do this with joy and cheerfulness. You clothe the naked and make them happy. May god reward you for this great job. These children continue to pray for you and your families. Thank you for all your items. You know how to make people happy,” Cornelius wrote to the Little Dresses volunteers.Warner said she is open to learning of new destinations to send dresses and pants.

Little Dresses continues to expand. Volunteers can pick up supplies, drop off finished dresses and shorts to help put kits together from 9 a.m. to noon on the first and third Wednesday of each month.

Little Dresses accepts 100% cotton fabric, 3/8″ braided elastic, laces, ribbons, buttons, threads, stick pins, large safety pins and gallon size Ziploc bags. Other needed items include sewing scissors, empty copy paper boxes in good condition, medium rubber bands and all-purpose thread that is not colored black.

Warner will teach new volunteers to sew dresses and shorts.

As it has in the past, Little Dresses plans to sent dresses and shorts to Smiles International Foundation in May. Smiles International treats underprivileged children with dento-facial cleft and craniofacial deformities at no cost in norther and southern Baja, Mexico.

Submitted photo An African girl wearing a dress sewn by Little Dresses volunteers waves at them.

Children living in the Mexican mainland states of Sonora and Sinaloa will benefit as they travel to the clinics with their parents.