For those of you who cannot view our story in the paper, here is the write up. Gatlinburg mom spends hours turning wedding dresses into burial gowns for babies BY: Lesli BalesSherrod POSTED: 4:56 PM, Sep 26, 2014 A wedding dress blows in the breeze on Jennifer Jones’ front porch. Inside her Gatlinburg home, nine wedding dresses hang from curtain rods, their flowing skirts hiding even more wedding dresses folded in boxes stacked high in the floor. But Jones’ dining room table is a place of transformation. Anchored by a sewing machine and a framed collage of a friend’s daughter who was born at 23 weeks gestation, this is where the wedding dresses start their new lives as burial gowns for babies who do not live. ----- Jones, a mother of three, has never lost a baby, but when her friend’s daughter, Halle Scott Windham, passed away after 13 months in the neonatal intensive care unit and then her husband’s cousin lost a son at 2 weeks old, Jones was compelled to do something. Thus began Angel Wings Memory Gowns, a ministry that repurposes donated wedding dresses and other formal gowns into complimentary burial gowns for babies who never make it home from the hospital. “I looked for somewhere to donate my own wedding gown, and there was nowhere around here,” remembers Jones, who donated her dress to a ministry in her home state of Alabama. “There’s a huge need for it, way bigger than I thought.” Although Jones only started Angel Wings Memory Gowns in mid-July, she already has supplied burial gowns to five hospitals -- LeConte Medical Center in Sevierville, Blount Memorial in Maryville and East Tennessee Children’s, Physicians Regional and University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville -- and plans to expand to other hospitals throughout the area and even some funeral homes. Jones is helped by her husband Ben, who taught her how to sew shortly after they married 13 years ago and who sewed the first burial gown for the ministry, and a loose network of around 40 volunteers who do everything from pick up donated dresses from surrounding counties to sew them into burial gowns -- and everything in between. “There are lots of people who can’t sew, but just want to help,” Jones says, noting that volunteers always are needed to take apart wedding gowns or cut patterns out of the deconstructed dresses. “Almost everyone who volunteers has lost a baby in their family or in their personal lives, and that’s where their inspiration comes from.” Jones opens a yellowed dress box balancing on one of her kitchen bar stools. “One lady who dropped off her dress on Monday said she married in 1967 and lost her baby in 1968,” Jennifer explains of the delicate material inside. “She broke down, saying she was donating her dress in memory of the baby she lost.” ----- By day Jones, 33, runs a cabin rental business with her husband and homeschools their 6-year-old daughter Briella while also taking care of their 2-year-old son Landon and 5-month-old daughter Railynn. But at night Jones starts her other labor of love: taking apart wedding dresses, cutting patterns out of the material, sewing on appliques or ribbons to make each burial gown unique, and finally sewing the gowns together. While she usually works on one task at a time, then puts the gowns together like an assembly line, just one burial gown could take Jones a couple of hours from start to finish. “I want everything to be perfect,” she says. Jones provides hospitals with multiple gowns in four sizes: micro-preemie (for babies who weigh 1-2 pounds), small, medium and large (which will fit a full-term baby). All gowns are split in the back and tie closed with ribbons to make it easier to dress the babies, Jones explains, but the ministry also offers wraps for babies who are too small or too fragile for the micro-preemie gown. The baby is placed into the pocket on the inside of the wrap, and then the sides of the wrap are tied around the baby, similar to a swaddle. While Jones encourages her volunteer seamstresses to put their own personal touches on the gowns they sew, the goal is to keep them “as angelic as possible,” which is why Jones prefers wedding dresses and formal gowns in whites, creams and pastels. But black can be put to use as well, she says, as little tuxedo vests and bow ties for baby boys. “People will donate prom gowns, but we try to stay away from loud colors,” Jones notes. While some volunteers work on memory gowns from their homes, others come together twice a month to work together at King Family Library in Sevierville. From 7-9 p.m. the second and fourth Mondays, volunteers drop off dresses they’ve collected from their areas or pick up dresses to take home. While no sewing takes place due to the difficulty of lugging their sewing machines to the library, some volunteers stay the whole time to help Jones take apart dresses or cut patterns. Depending on the material and the length of the train, volunteers can cut 8-16 burial gowns from each wedding dress. “We’ve had people of all different ages, from the local homeschool groups to an older man from our church who said he used to make his own clothes,” says Ben Jones, who learned to sew at an early age from his seamstress mother. “We have volunteers from as far away as Halls and Morristown.” Each finished burial gown is affixed with a card that tells parents about Angel Wings Memory Gowns, including who among the volunteers sewed their baby’s gown. And the final touch: a keepsake heart cut from the material of their baby’s gown, something tangible they can hold onto. “This is a wonderful ministry because unfortunately we need this in town,” says Ruth-Anne Bollinger, a neonatal nurse practitioner based out of UT Medical Center, who also volunteers to sew for Angel Wings Memory Gowns. “No parent is prepared for this ever. Even if they expected (the loss), they don’t have the wherewithal to go shopping. This provides them a nice outfit to put their baby in.” One woman who heard about Angel Wings Memory Gowns contacted Jones, wanting to buy one for her baby who was not expected to live. Jones gently informed the mother that the gowns are a gift and proceeded to make a burial gown especially for the woman’s son, personally delivering it to Fort Sanders in time for the scheduled C-section. “I haven’t personally dealt with a loss, but this has given me a heart for people who are going through that,” Jones says. “The best thing is that we can show the love of Christ to people going through this devastating loss -- to let them know that they are loved and their baby is loved and will never be forgotten.” Jones also receives positive feedback from nurses and other hospital staff. “I know the families need this and the babies need this -- and the nurses need this, for closure,” Bollinger explains. “We really try our best to help the parents and to make the babies look their best so that they can have those positive memories with their babies.” ----- At first Jones solicited donated dresses and volunteers through online yard sale sites. But with 1,700 “likes” on Facebook since Jones created the Angel Wings Memory Gowns page on July 24, the ministry is growing faster than she ever imagined. “I have wedding gowns all over the house,” Jones laughs, noting her family has ceased eating at the dining room table all together. “We are drowning in dresses, which is a great thing.” Jones has volunteers throughout the area who are willing to meet those who want to donate dresses, and dresses can be dropped off 24-7 at LeConte Medical Center’s Dolly Parton Birthing Unit, Jones says. Knoxville Birth Resource Center, located at 428 E. Scott Ave. Suite 100, also holds occasional dress drives for Angel Wings Memory Gowns. The next one is 3-6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 15. Right now, however, the ministry’s biggest need is money to apply for official 501c3 nonprofit status, Jones says. The cost is about $1,000. Other than that, Angel Wings Memory Gowns always welcomes supplies such as white or cream ribbon and thread, new plain white gift boxes and white tissue paper, cream metallic card stock (Neenah Creative Collection, found at Wal-Mart in the paper section), fabric scissors and seam rippers, and gift cards or coupons to stores such as Wal-Mart, Jo-Ann Fabric and Hobby Lobby. “And we need helpers!” Jones stresses. Those interested in donating or volunteering can contact Jones at 865-430-1641 or through the Angel Wings Memory Gowns Facebook page, https://facebook/memorygowns.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 14:34:07 +0000
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