Stories
Please Donate Today
Please Donate Today
Pawleys Island Community Church Ladies Sew Dresses for St. Christopher's Children in Need
Already making hundreds of “pillowcase” dresses for young girls in Guatemala, a Pawleys Island Community Church (PICC) Outreach Group is partnering with St. Christopher’s Children by making hand-sewn dresses for the summer at five Georgetown County elementary schools, Waccamaw in Pawleys Island and Kensington, Browns Ferry, Plantersville and McDonald in the Georgetown area.
Led by PICC member Joy Brewster, the 35-volunteer seamstresses cut about a yard of material for each unique dress and use sewing machines to skillfully stitch the edges and seams. “Each colorful dress is unique. They’re all very cute dresses,” says Joy Brewster.
”Beautiful summer dresses for local girls in partnership with the PICC Sewing Mission Group community outreach,” Kathy Binney, “THANK YOU to all the sewing ladies. We appreciate your partnership!”
Teachers and school nurses who work with St. Christopher’s Children found girls needing clothing and assisted in determining sizes. Each child’s parents were contacted for written permission.
Our Partners
On behalf of myself and Brown's Ferry Elementary School, I would like to thank you for your generous support, time, services, and supplies through the years. You all are a special and unique part of our school community. I often reflect on the traditional proverb, "It takes a village to raise a child" which has been widely quoted for decades. Our "village" has never been more necessary that it is today. A village consisting of home, school, and partners like the St. Christopher's Children organization. Today's children are faced with both challenges/opportunities and parenthood can be daunting to some parents. Working together helps the school/community rise above the uncertainty of times, and prepares our students for tomorrow.
Stories
We had a child that was a recipient of our program and has gone on to receive a college scholarship. She had a 4.9 GPA and earned a LIFE scholarship in the state of South Carolina. WE ARE SO PROUD OF HER!
I had a parent call me today. She said she had lost her job. She told me she had two children in school. Together they shared two pairs of pants to wear to school. I sent a voucher to St. Christopher’s Children and had clothes for these students within the school day. What a blessing.
There was a student of 14 in middle school whose parents had recently separated and his mother had moved out of state. He was living out of a car with his father, who was unemployed. His father decided to move out of state as well to seek employment and didn’t want to take his son with him, essentially abandoning him. Fortunately, an elderly, neighboring couple, offered to take him in if provided appropriate papers of guardianship, which they received. A resource teacher in the school brought this young man to my attention. Not only did he lack basic clothing, he desperately needed orthodontic and vision care. I contacted St. Christopher’s Children and they provided the needed clothing and arranged for the medical care.
The young man has graduated, is working two jobs and is taking classes to be an EMT. I hate to think what his situation would be if St. Christopher’s hadn’t been there to help him.
A student had to have seven extra teeth pulled. Her condition was painful and students that are in pain cannot concentrate on the work in front of them. Her father and mother could not afford the orthodontics or an oral surgeon. Saint Christopher’s Children has been helping her since last year. Without them, she would not have had the care she needed. She is much more confident now and smiles all the time.
I had a teacher bring in a child today and their shoes had a strong odor, holes were worn in the toes, and no socks. Their pants were some I gave them yesterday because the ones the child wore to school yesterday had a hole in the seat. St. Christopher had given us some extra pants at the beginning of the year and the child wore a pair home and wore the same pair back today. The hole in the pants revealed another problem: no underwear. The child told me they had to share with a sibling. When I spoke with mom she said they did not have much and had just moved here, (Family Justice Dept) was helping them to find a safe place. St Christopher is already shopping what a blessing!
To make a very long story short: I absolutely love St. Christopher’s Children and the work that each and every person does to serve the students and families in our community. My job would not be filled with quite as many smiles and happy days if it was not for them. I have many stories I could share about how they help, but one in particular stands out in my mind because I still remember the look on the student’s face and how their entire world changed just because of some new clothes. I had a student who always wore clothes that were about 5 times too big and a lot of the time wore the same things sometimes several days in a row. They also had a lot of self-esteem issues that caused very poor bladder control. I spoke with student’s mom and was able to order clothes through St. Christopher’s Children. I could cry just writing this… The day the clothes came in, the student came to my office and tried them all on, and everything fit perfectly. Their face lit up, and immediately began standing up straight and holding their head up. The student said they had never had this many clothes before. After the student was finished I let them try on brand new shoes. They fit too, and the student told me they had never had a new pair of shoes before. The student put back on their normal clothes and shoes and sat at my desk, head down and said “Nursery, I love all these clothes but my momma says I have to get clothes that are big so I can wear them for a long time.” I was almost speechless and in tears. I replied “baby, you don’t have to worry about that, if you grow out of these clothes we can get you some more.” The student laughed and put on one of the new outfits to wear home. After this, the student visited my office often to model the new clothes. They began making new friends and no longer had bladder issues. The teachers told me that the student had made a complete turnaround in classroom performance and was likely to be on A-B honor roll by the end of that semester.
I recently reached out to St. Christopher’s for help for a mother of a child with developmental disabilities. She had just moved here and had not gotten insurance coverage yet. We needed to have an audiology exam for one of the children. Within less than 30 minutes of my email, I received a call from Dr. Rosol who had contacted an audiologist who would do the exam at no charge. Before the day was over, I spoke with the audiologist and the mother called for the appointment. She was so grateful, I cannot describe it in words. We received the results, and the child is able to undergo the necessary evaluations required for setting up the services needed. This would not have been possible without the swift response and assistance offered by St. Christopher’s. Again, another example of the many wonderful things St. CC is doing for the children.
