In Troy, Alabama, a group of volunteers at Southside Baptist Church gather every Wednesday morning to make new clothes for children in need around the world.
The New Threads Ministry started in 2010 after church members attended a talk presented by a missionary who spoke about seeing children in tattered clothing in parts of Central America. Following the lecture, Southside Baptist member Jean Snoddy launched the sewing ministry to make clothing for underserved youngsters. Five other women joined her, according to fellow church member and current leader of New Threads, Jean Fortune.
“They started sewing in her home, and that year they made 86 garments—little girl dresses and shorts for the little boys,” says Fortune.
Eventually, one volunteer traveled to Central America several times with a mission team to distribute the clothing.
After the church built a new fellowship hall, New Threads relocated to the old fellowship hall in 2013 in order to give the expanding ministry more room, Fortune adds.
“The ladies got a group together to clean and work on [the fellowship hall]. They got help from the church and built a room over here,” she says.
Today, as many as 10 volunteers meet each week in this room, which Fortune says is outfitted with sewing machines, sergers, cutting tables and cloth. Many of the materials are paid for with financial donations; other supplies are donated.
The volunteers create colorful jumpers as well as sun and peasant dresses for girls, and shorts for boys. The number of pieces they complete each month varies, but on average, the volunteers make between 15–20 garments a month, Fortune says.
Once the outfits are complete, the seamstresses pack some of the clothing for a missionary to distribute in the Dominican Republic, and some into shoe boxes to send to Operation Christmas Child, a project of the humanitarian organization Samaritan’s Purse.
“[This ministry] makes people feel like they’re doing something for God,” adds Fortune. “We’re spreading God’s love, one dress at a time.”
