Volunteer Highlight: Ann Schroeder

For many little girls, the best part of Easter is getting a pretty, new dress. Since 2014, Ann Schroeder has sewn more than 860 dresses for the little girls staying at Union Gospel Mission of Tarrant County! They're not just for Easter, though; Ann's beautiful dresses delight girls all through the year.

As Ann was growing up, her mother made all of her dresses. Surprisingly, Ann never learned to sew herself until she was 45 years old. She was going through a difficult time and felt a nudge from God to take up where her mother left off. She bought a sewing machine, taught herself how to use it and began creating dresses for little girls in Appalachia.

When Ann met Don Shisler at a memorial service for a friend who worked at UGM-TC, she asked him if the Mission would accept her dresses as well. Today, she makes her dresses exclusively for UGM-TC. "I don't know of another organization that does more for the needy and homeless than UGM-TC does," Ann says.

Ann remembers dropping off some dresses at the Mission to our volunteer coordinator, who picked out a particular dress for one of our youngest residents. When the child came in for lunch, the coordinator held the dress over what she was wearing to see how it would look. The little girl was so excited - and Ann was thrilled to see the joy her sewing brought to others.

"What I do is a labor of love," Ann tells us. "I believe God put this in my path and I'm so thankful" So are the recipients of Ann's creations, each and every dress stitched with love.