WS Chronicle

The Rukiya Busara Piedmont Triad Chapter (RuBu) of the Swing Phi Swing Social Fellowship, Inc. mentoring program Girls as Pearls (GAP) is hard at work creating and designing pillow case dresses for the “Little Dresses for Africa” project.

Ellen Tomlinson Carter, who started the local dresses project, said the idea came from a fellow longtime Swing Phi Swing member.

“During the conversation I asked her if she knew of any different and interesting projects that my GAP Girls could work on and she was the one who suggested the Little Dress for Africa project. I took the idea to my girls, and they loved it,” Carter said.

To date, the group has made more than 50 dresses in an array of sizes, colors and designs for children in Africa. GAP hopes to collect hundreds more pillow cases to create even more dresses.

Girls As Pearls exists for Swing Phi Swing to establish mentoring relationships with young ladies in grades 5-12. The group’s activities are designed to encourage and provide opportunities for young ladies to become community leaders on relevant topics that affect youth. There are three local GAP program sites: Mineral Springs Elementary School, Mineral Springs Middle School and the Carl Russell Sr. Recreation Center.

Swing Phi Swing Social Fellowship, Inc., or SWING (Supporting Women In Need of Growth), was birthed on the campus of Winston-Salem State University in the late ’60s, when 12 young women saw an urgent need to go out in the surrounding community and lend a helping hand to the women and children who were caught up in the social realm of change.

Today, Swing Phi Swing has more than 50 active graduate and undergraduate chapters throughout the United States and continues to commit to social concerns with regards to health and wellness, mentoring and community service.

The Rukiya Busara “RuBu” Chapter was chartered in August 1992. It has more than 40 members, including three founding members, Ellen Tomlinson Carter, Anita Chase Watson and Lorraine Watkins.

For more information about the Little Dresses for Africa project, or to donate pillowcases, contact Ellen Tomlinson Carter at 336-336-575-2380 or Phyllis Woodruff at 336-416-0007.