Girls, grandmother make doll baskets for needy kids
Mar. 12, 2007
NOTE: A UMTV report and photographs are available with this report at http://umns.umc.org.
By John Gordon*
MARION, Kan. (UMNS) - Eight-year-old Courtney Williams carefully sifts through a collection of tiny clothes to match the red hair on a doll.
The doll is a gift - for someone that Courtney doesn't even know.
She and her 11-year-old sister, Becca, started a project to brighten other children's lives by making doll baskets for needy families in the Wichita area.
"A lot of kids, they always get a lot of stuff. And those other kids, they don't have much," says Courtney.
The idea came after members of their church, Aulne United Methodist, took a donation of clothing to United Methodist Urban Ministry in Wichita. As they were unpacking, they found a doll mixed in with the clothes.
"The doll was just a cloth body and had no clothes whatsoever," recalls Wanda Williams, the girls' grandmother. "There was a little 5-year-old girl there with her mother. ... And she saw that (doll) and said, 'Oh, mother, can I have this?' And the lady from our church said she grabbed that doll and it seemed to be the first doll she'd had."
The story moved Becca, who decided other little girls like herself and Courtney should have a doll of their own - even if they do not have enough money to pay for toys.
With their new mission, the girls and their grandmother scour garage sales looking for new or gently used dolls, along with baskets to keep them in. Word of their effort has spread in the community, and friends have donated to the cause.
One neighbor offered them an entire doll collection. Another neighbor traveling in Kentucky brought back dolls from a thrift store. The owner of the store also asked for details on how she could start a similar ministry.
Each doll basket is made with caring hands.
"First, we get a basket and we try to match the doll to it," explains Courtney. "And we usually put a change of clothes with them and like a stuffed animal or toy. And then we put the blanket and the pillow in there."
Courtney and Becca choose the clothes themselves, as well as picking out the material to line the baskets, while their grandmother sews, cuts the material and helps the girls with a hot-glue gun.
"That's the fun part, listening to them decide what color and where it goes," says Wanda.
Together, they have made about 50 doll baskets in the past year. Most were given to the Wichita urban ministry program, which operates its free Klothes Kloset. Some were donated to a Christmas toy drive sponsored by the local chamber of commerce.
"I've always loved to see little kids' faces, that they're so happy and they get to have stuff that they don't normally get to have," says Becca.
Wanda, a school teacher, hopes the dolls provide comfort to vulnerable children. "Since I'm around school all the time and school children, I see a lot of ... children who are angry," she says. "They haven't had the role models at home that they really needed. And they need love, too."
The doll basket recipients are not the only ones who benefit, however. It "feels really great" helping others, says Becca.
The ministry also allows Wanda and her granddaughters to spend more time together. Their work is spread out over a room at Wanda's farm home, not far from their church.
"She's fun," Courtney says of her grandmother. "We want to keep doing it as long as we can."
The feeling is mutual, and Wanda is proud of her granddaughters for caring about other children and their needs.
"As they grow into adulthood, I hope it's something they'll remember and pass on to their families," says Wanda. "It might not be making dolls, but any other opportunities that come along where they can help someone."
*Gordon is a freelance producer and writer based in Marshall, Texas.
News media contact: Fran Walsh, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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