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Donated wedding dresses into burial gowns for grieving families
Wedding dresses often represent the beginning of a new chapter. For one group of volunteers in Ocala, those same dresses are being given a different purpose: providing comfort to families grieving the loss of an infant.
OCALA, Fla. - Wedding dresses often represent the beginning of a new chapter. For one group of volunteers in Ocala, those same dresses are being given a different purpose: providing comfort to families grieving the loss of an infant.
Turning wedding dresses into lasting keepsakes
The backstory:
Angels Above Baby Gowns transforms donated wedding dresses into burial garments for babies who are stillborn or die shortly after birth. A team of retired volunteers gathers weekly to turn the dresses into gowns, blankets, hats, booties and other keepsakes for grieving families.
The nonprofit, which also has a chapter in Michigan, has distributed an estimated 30,000 burial packages since its founding in 2014. The items are provided free of charge to families and hospitals across the country.
The volunteers begin by photographing each donated wedding dress before carefully taking it apart. They then cut, sew and crochet the fabric into infant burial garments in sizes ranging from premature to full-term.
Every part of the dress is put to use. Even leftover fabric and lace are turned into small angel ornaments.
"Every bit of the dresses, including the lace — this will go to make angel ornaments," volunteer Janet O'Neil said.
Each completed package includes a burial gown, blanket, hat, booties, an angel ornament, a card and matching bracelets for the mother and baby.
The packages are distributed to hundreds of hospitals nationwide, giving families items they can use to dress their babies and keep as mementos.
A mission born from grief
Dawn Corey, a retired fashion designer and seamstress, founded Angels Above Baby Gowns after learning about a neonatal intensive care unit nurse who cut up her own wedding dress to make clothing for a stillborn baby.
Inspired by the gesture, Corey turned to Facebook in 2014 to ask friends for help starting a similar effort.
Within 10 minutes, several people volunteered to join her.
"Within 10 minutes, several of my friends said, 'Well, I'll help you with that, I'll help you with that,'" Corey said. "And then I made lots of new friends ... It just grew from there."
Corey established the original chapter in Michigan before eventually moving to Ocala, where she expanded the nonprofit's work.
For Corey and other volunteers, the mission is also deeply personal. Some have experienced infertility, while others have faced loss or grief. Volunteering gives them an opportunity to turn those experiences into something meaningful for other families.
"I love it. I couldn't have children, so it just kind of fills that void," Corey said.
O'Neil said the work has given her a similar sense of purpose.
"I never had children, and to me, it's my way of paying it forward," she said. "It makes my heart happy."
Helping families through an unimaginable loss
The burial gowns offer grieving parents an opportunity to dress their babies and spend meaningful time with them, volunteers said.
Roxanne Baggott, a volunteer photographer with Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, a nonprofit that provides bereavement photography resources, said the garments help families create lasting memories.
"Those gowns not only provide a keepsake for these families, but they provide that time to be able to dress and be a mom and be a dad and help dress their little one," Baggott said.
The organization works alongside resources such as Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep to support families navigating the loss of an infant.
How to help
What you can do:
Angels Above Baby Gowns relies on community support and donated wedding dresses to continue its work. People interested in supporting the initiative can connect with the organization through its Facebook page, Angels Above Baby Gowns.
Families seeking bereavement photography services can also find resources through Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep.
With hundreds of hospitals receiving packages and an estimated 30,000 already distributed, the volunteers continue gathering each week with one goal: making an unimaginable loss a little easier for families.
The Source: This story was reported live from Ocala, Florida, by reporter Amanda McKenzie for the FOX 35 Care Force segment on WOFL FOX 35, timed to coincide with Infant Loss Awareness Month in October. McKenzie interviewed Dawn Corey, the founder of Angels Above Baby Gowns and a retired fashion designer; Janet O'Neil, a dedicated volunteer seamstress; and Roxanne Baggott, a volunteer photographer with the infant bereavement photography nonprofit Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep. Supporting visual assets, including infant remembrance photographs, were supplied directly by Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, while background on the organization's Michigan origins, volunteer processes, and distribution figures came from interviews with Corey, on-site coverage of the sewing workshop, and the Angels Above Baby Gowns community Facebook page.