"Everybody knows that this is such a great cause," Klingler said. Her mother, Connie Blackman, of Little York, donated her dress that had been in storage for 43 years.Īngie Brunswig, of Gladstone, who is engaged, donated her wedding dress that she has never worn. "My mom even donated her dress," Klingler said. Klingler never imagined so many women would donate their dresses. She has at least six more dresses to collect before she delivers the gowns to the OSF St. "I just want to get the word out," Klingler said. One dress is even being mailed from Hawaii from someone who heard about the project on Facebook. Since then, she has received 18 wedding dresses from women in Henderson, Knox, Mercer and Warren counties, as well as in Peoria County. Klingler brought one of her dresses to Peoria on Tuesday, so Fisher would have materials. Just this week, Fisher made a dress for a baby girl who recently passed away in Peoria. Francis and informed her that a local church group would cut and sew the donated gowns. She contacted Charlotte "Char" Fisher, who works in the NICU at OSF St. "I wanted to donate locally, not send my dresses to Texas," Klingler said, after witnessing the local need for the cause. When Klingler heard about the Angel Gown Campaign, which was started in Fort Worth, Texas, by a woman who founded the NICU Helping Hands - an organization that provides support for families and their babies in the NICU - she wanted to get involved. "They had a really hard time finding clothes for her," Klingler said. While Klingler delivered three healthy babies, who are now adults, she has been affected by the loss of her friends' children.īoth Klingler's wedding dresses were donated in honor of Caitlynn Caylene Mason, daughter of Heather and Jeffrey Mason, of Monmouth.Ĭaitlynn was born four months premature Feb. The gowns are made to fit the small babies, who are often born premature. The white and ivory gowns made for baby boys and girls serve as baptismal gowns, which traditionally adorn infants in white. "There's little babies who don't make it home with mommy and daddy," Klingler said."They go home with Jesus." The dresses are being donated to a church group at Chillicothe Christian Church, who will make gowns for babies who never recover in the neonatal intensive care unit at OSF St. Jenny Klingler, of Little York, is collecting wedding dresses from which burial gowns will be custom-made for the families who have lost a baby, either in childbirth or in the days following. It can be an isolating time, especially as parents try to find clothing to bury their usually premature, tiny babies in.
Click here to watch video of the dress drive.LITTLE YORK - To lose an infant leaves a sorrowful emptiness in the arms and hearts of their families who never were able to bring their children home from the hospital. NICU Helping Hands volunteers estimate their warehouse now holds enough wedding dresses to make over 40,000 Angel Gowns.
Each donated dress will make approximately 12 Angel Gowns. Over 1,000 wedding dresses were donated locally, and since the story went viral, over 3,000 wedding dresses have been donated from across the country. After posting the story on WFAA-TV’s Facebook page, the outpouring of viewers who wanted to donate their dresses led to a one-week, wedding dress donation drive at the station. These gowns serve as burial and baptismal gowns for babies who do not make it home from the hospital. James recently reported on a local nonprofit, NICU Helping Hands, whose mission is to take donated wedding gowns and turn them in to beautiful Angel Gowns. Gannett’s ABC affiliate WFAA-TV Dallas reporter Janet St.
WFAA-TV Collects Thousands of Wedding Dresses to Make Angel Gowns for BabieS
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