Dress a Girl Around the World, a program of Hope 4 Women International, has distributed the locally made dresses for girls since it launched in 2009.
Hope 4 Women President Rachel Eggum Cinader told The Christian Post that the campaign started after she made multiple trips to Uganda and “saw a need for dresses” because many girls were “wearing threadbare clothing.”
She and her sister Joan took pillowcases to Uganda and taught the women to make dresses from them on sewing machines. The idea caught on, and people from all over wanted to make dresses the same way.
Cinader says the dresses give the girls, many of whom were depressed, a sense of purpose.
The ministry sends the dresses with people going on mission trips who hand deliver them to girls in need. It also presents an opportunity to share Jesus and His love.
In addition to providing clothes for needy girls, the charity also uses the opportunity of distributing the clothes to “enlighten people on the dangers of trafficking, exposing tricks that traffickers use to lure girls in.”
One of the churches involved in the program is Oro Valley Church of the Nazarene of Oro Valley, Arizona, which started sewing clothes for the charity in 2012. Church leaders say the ministry is way to empower people in our church to use their gifts to serve on mission.