As a little girl, I remember having the privilege of running around playing with dolls and wearing dresses. In other countries, not every girl is that lucky. A local volunteer group, Dressed in Hope, ensures young girls don’t ever have to feel left out by hand-sewing dresses and matching pocket dolls and sending them to impoverished countries. The dresses and dolls are hand-delivered by mission and humanitarian groups to where they are most needed. This ensures that those girls who are in need actually receive the dresses.

The group was originally created in 2011 by one woman named Joanne O’Connell, who was watching the nightly news and saw a segment about a woman who was attempting to change the world “one dress at a time.” That segment inspired O’Connell to do the same, and now Dressed in Hope has grown to about 40 to 50 women, most residing in the Lake Nona area, specifically VillageWalk. These women currently meet every Thursday morning at the VillageWalk Town Center for a few hours. In that time, the Dressed in Hope women are sewing together dresses, matching fabrics, painting on doll faces and styling hair made of yarn. One doesn’t need to know how to sew to join and help spread hope with this group because there are so many different jobs to tackle.

Roughly one yard of fabric can make a small dress, about a yard-and-a-half for a medium dress and about a yard and three-quarters for a large dress. Karen Arruda has been a member of Dressed in Hope since the beginning, acting as inventory control and updating the volunteers with brief speeches about the progress the group has made. “It’s really very rewarding. Very motivating, I think to everyone here…some of us have been here from the beginning when it was 450 dresses [made in 2014 and seven countries], now to see that’s over 5,000 dresses [in total to 18 different countries], that’s pretty impressive! I think just talking about that motivates us even more. It’s just like, ‘Wow, did we really do that?! Did we really help to distribute 5,000 dresses?! Yeah, we did.’ ”

When asked what inspired these ladies to continue to volunteer their time and what their favorite part was, the answers had an underlying and consistent theme: selflessness and camaraderie. Monica McNertney, the sewing group coordinator for Dressed in Hope, has been with the group since its inception as well. She describes her favorite part of being in the group. “Well, you know it’s…you’re always thinking about the girls, of course. You know, you hear about things that are happening around the world and how girls are, in a lot of cases, at a disadvantage, so that’s the main purpose that drives me. [Also] the socialization. Just to make friends, a lot of us, you know, [it’s] a fairly new community, so a lot of people are new here and it’s a really great way to reach out to other people, make new friends to help you settle and adjust in the community.”

It takes about an hour or two to make one dress from start to finish, but that little time spent volunteering makes such a great impact on these little girls’ lives.

Chris Kraus has been an ambassador for Dressed in Hope since 2013, and she hates to miss a weekly meeting. Kraus had originally started attending once she moved to VillageWalk as a way to make new friends, but joining the group turned into so much more than just friendship. “It’s so fun to see one of the dresses you made in one of the pictures they send back to us. Knowing that I can use my talents, whatever they happen to be, to help these girls around the world and also the friendships that I’ve made and the enthusiasm of the group.”

The most striking response was from Karen Arruda. She said, “This, right here.” She was pointing to a picture of the smiling girls receiving their dresses and dolls. “I think that’s self-explanatory,” stated Arruda. “I love seeing, I love contacting people, meeting different people and listening to them when they talk about their stories and what they’re doing to help other children, other girls. Just to see that photograph…you know, we never ask for anything in return for the hundreds of dresses that we give away. I only ask them, ‘Please send me a photograph.’ That means so much to us. It’s an inspiration.”

That right there left an enduring impression on me. It’s pretty sad to say that most people volunteer or do nice things for others expecting something in return or even a thank you nowadays. These ladies of Dressed in Hope truly help out of the goodness of their hearts. The joy on the faces of the girls who receive their dresses means everything to these women, and that has to be one of the most gratifying moments ever.

Hope really can be provided one dress at a time.

If you are interested in volunteering or donating materials, you can visit http://www.dressedinhope.org or email dressedinhopeinfo@gmail.com.