Boos duo sews clothes for Malawi
By Joanne Bender
Sun contributor
Glen Lake summer resident Beverly Boos and her granddaughter Dani (Danielle) Boos were intrigued with a story they read in the Detroit Free Press about Rachel O’Neill of Brownstown, Mich., whose nonprofit “Little Dresses for Africa” was sending clothing and hope to children in the African nation of Malawi.
“Little Dresses for Arica” distributes dresses for girls and pants for boys made out of used pillowcases to orphanages, churches and schools.
O’Neill first visited Malawi in 2007 and observed a poverty level higher than she had ever seen. The children wore ragged and dirty clothes and there was never enough food to keep people healthy. O’Neill decided that she would send apparel back to them.
She recruited friends to sew the clothing. First they met in her living room, but as her idea grew in popularity they moved to a larger space now called “The Love Shack”. The dresses are now distributed to 42 African nations and come from all over the United States. To date, over one million dresses have been delivered.
Why pillow cases? Because they are available in many colors and the hem and sides are already intact. The available pattern may be ordered on line at www.LittleDressesForAfrica.org.
When “Nana” Bev learned about O’Neill’s plea for pillowcases, her granddaughter Dani conducted research online and they decided to join the seamstresses in their effort to clothe the children of Malawi.
Bev and Dani have been sewing together since Dani was in first grade. Dani admits her love for sewing began then, adding, “in second grade I was really obsessed with it!” Bev was an adept teacher and the two have sewn many outfits, scarves and pillows together. Dani is now 12 years old and a seventh grader at Abbott Middle School in Orchard Lake, Mich.
Bev and Dani decided that “Little Dresses for Africa” would be their summer project. Together they sewed six dresses complete with appropriate trims and ribbons and six pairs of pants for boys. These were mailed to O’Neill’s organization and forwarded to Africa to brighten the lives of needy children.
This stitching duo decided to buy material by the yard rather than to use pillowcases because, as Nana Bev notes, “Pillow cases are more expensive and choosing appropriate material can offer a prettier and younger look.” “Nana already had most of the trims left over from our past sewing projects,” Dani adds.
Dani and her grandmother live next door to each other in Orchard Lake so working together was easy to do. “Spending time with Dani one-on-one was the best part of this project”, says Bev. Dani reports that the best thing for her is “knowing that kids in Africa are going to be wearing these. This project has a useful purpose.”
The next time that Beverly Boos’ sewing group from downstate visits the Boos’ summer home on Glen Lake to sew and chat, they’ll be required to each make a pillow case dress. Their sewing machines will be humming. Meanwhile, Bev also used remnant material to make flags for her and her husband Warren’s bike group — thus creating more advertising for the “Little Dresses for Africa” project.
