A Missions Mosaic article detailing poverty in Appalachia prompted the Women on Mission leaders of First Baptist Church, Luverne, to take action.
The women made contact with Bill Barker, a North American Mission Board missionary and director of Appalachian Regional Ministries serving in the region. Barker provided the group with information about the region and its needs. He also connected it with Debbie King at the TEAM Center (Together Everyone Accomplishes More) in War, W.Va. King and the center work with a Head Start program, after-school programs and summer programs with children of all ages.
King was thrilled to discover the children she works with daily were on the hearts and minds of the women of the Alabama-Crenshaw Baptist Association church, and she was aware of children who could use new clothes.
Armed with sewing machines and creativity, the women began making pillowcase dresses for girls and shirt and pant sets for boys.
Several women provided their own sewing and embroidery machines to use, while other church members donated fabric and T-shirts. The women bathed the sewing project in prayer and asked God to bless every child who received the clothes they made.
That included girls and boys in their own county as they took 10 dresses and seven T-shirts to Crenshaw County’s Department of Human Resources to be distributed to needy families.
“I have had so much fun actually working on something to give to the children — a much bigger blessing than just giving funds,” Mary Handley said.
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