Only Love Dresses

About two years ago, Therese Xandrew read about the Congregation of St. Joseph in Detroit who were sewing dresses for orphans in Africa.  Since that time, Xandrew has been doing the same thing.

To date, she has made countless dresses and has sent them to orphanages in Sierra Leone and Uganda, Africa and to Haiti.  Xandrew is a shipping clerk for the Ministry of the Arts at the congregation's La Grange Park Center. 

"Today, millions of girls in Africa are orphaned due to HIV/AIDS and in Haiti, many were orphaned by the earthquake," Xandrew said. "It is our goal to inspire hope and confidence in these girls by providing them with special dresses that are easy to make, yet beautiful to wear."

Each of the dresses is one-of-a-kind:  beautiful soft summer fabrics that are simply made with ribbons that tie at the shoulders – some have pockets in a different fabric; some have decorative stitching in a different color.  Looking at the box of dresses ready to transport was like looking into a rainbow of cloth. Xandrew hopes to transport the dresses herself this year.

"I have thrown my request to the universe.  Some how, some way, I will get to go," said Xandrew.

Her life so far has been filled with grace:  she actively seeks and finds churches with ministries similar to the Sisters of St. Joseph. She is now working with a church in Naperville to promote her dresses. She wants to provide more than just dresses. She has another idea to bring enterprise into the lives of Haitian women:  quilted purses.

"I went to a craft fair a couple of years ago with some friends and I spied these darling purses. I had the idea that if I made a kit of the materials and notions needed to make a purse like that, I could ship the kit to Haiti and teach the women to make these purses. We then could sell them here at the various church bazaars, church and congregation gift shops for a profit."

The Haitian women's project would be an actual business:  the women would rent space and pay for rent, expenses and additional kits through profits made with the sale of the purses.

"The women would have stock in their own company," said Xandrew. "They would be making a steady wage and be able to provide for themselves and their children."

Not only is Xandrew making up kits for purses, and helping congregations sew the dresses for the girls, she also bought one sewing machine for the enterprise and received donations to buy five more.

"When I went into the store to look at machines, after seeing what each one could do, I chose a model. You can imagine my surprise when the model was named 'Grace,'" she said.

Xandrew said a few days later, a store employee was impressed with what she was doing called and offered to buy another machine. She said her church would donate the material, notions, scissors, etc. The name of her church is Grace Lutheran Church.

 Xandrew has not been a seamstress her whole life.

"If you can sew a straight line, you can make the dresses and the purses."

Xandrew proudly showed off her sewing room in her home in La Grange and also brought out boxes of already-made dresses ready for transport to Haiti.  She has a multitude of sample purses made up as well in seasonal fabrics. A perfect addition for various craft fairs throughout the area.

With Xandrew's enthusiasm for the project and her ability to connect with people, she has turned her work into a non-profit organization and it's growing. Her daughter told her she has to have a website and so to that end, her daughter created one for her: www.onlylovedresses.org. Her website invites others to join her in her effort and also provided the dress pattern.

It appears that grace will continue to touch Xandrew's life as her quest has touched so many others.