Mickey Starling: Greene Publishing, Inc.
Grace Presbyterian Church's (GPC) Ladies of Grace Offering Service (LOGOS) joined with “Dress a Girl Around the World,” a national ministry that provides clothing and dolls to children throughout the world. The ladies have been with the organization for about a year, and have made and shipped the unique dresses to the island of St. Martin, which was devastated by Hurricane Irma in 2017. They also provided dolls to a girl's orphanage in Haiti.
Peggy Scruggs is having a great time sewing dresses for the Ladies of Grace Offering Service ministry at GPC. Children wearing these dresses are less likely to be abducted into child slavery because of the emblem sewn into the dresses. The emblem signifies that someone is caring for the child and would search for them in case of a disappearance.
Missionaries make great use of the dresses in impoverished or damaged areas because the dresses come with a front pocket that holds a hand-made doll ready for some play time. The GPC ladies have made dresses and dolls for toddlers through a size eight, so far. Besides the clothing and toy benefits of the ministry, girls who wear the dresses, which come with a “Dress a Girl Around the World” emblem sewn into them, are less likely to be abducted into human trafficking. Apparently, the emblem signals would-be kidnappers that the girl has someone caring for them, thereby causing greater difficulty with a successful abduction.
The hard-working ladies of LOGOS meet from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., on the fourth Monday of every month and they would love more volunteers. The group, which has twelve dresses and dolls ready for the next assignment, also takes financial donations, fabric, sewing machines and other items that help in the production of the dress/doll combinations. These ladies work like a fine-oiled machine, having divided the production according to the following categories: cutting and assembling dress pieces, Suzanne Fausett; doll makers, specializing in drawing faces and hemming dolls: Nell Ring and Marilyn Blair; sewing: Rita Cox, Carolyn Blount, Daphine Peacock, Peggy Scruggs and Faye Todd; and the ironing is done by Helen Glen Whidden. Lynn Barnes heads the group, which is clearly focused on their mission. Almost in unison, the ladies declared, “We do it all for the glory of God.”
Some of the ladies of Grace Presbyterian are displaying some of their dresses which will be sent around the world by missionaries. Pictured, from left to right, are: Peggy Scruggs, Rita Cox, Daphine Peacock, Nell Ring, Lynn Barnes and Suzanne Fausett.
If you would like more information about “Dress a Girl Around the World,” visit their website at dressagirlaroundtheworld.com, or contact Lynn Barnes at (904) 703-9497.