WS Chronicle

SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE

“Changing lives one little dress at a time” proclaims the tag line on the Little Dresses for Africa website and represents Winston-Salem Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.’s efforts to make a difference in the lives of some of the smallest residents of many African communities.

Members of the chapter were drawn to the Little Dresses Project because it presents a chance for the chapter to impact the lives of little girls in a very practical way.

The Sorority’s past national president, Cynthia Butler-McIntyre, called Deltas to “transform lives and impact communities through action that reflects the Sorority’s commitment to meaningful public service.”  Making little dresses presents yet another way for the Winston-Salem Alumnae Chapter to broaden Delta’s legacy of support of children in Africa and other countries as well. Nationally, Delta supports the Adelaide Tambo School for the Physically Challenged in Soweto, South Africa, The Delta House, a residential orphanage in Mbabane, Swaziland and The TREE Project in Durban, South Africa, an organization whose mission is to promote and sustain holistic early childhood education centers for more than 75,000 children.

Additionally, the Winston-Salem Alumnae Chapter supported relief efforts in Haiti prior to the 2006 earthquake and since, has been involved in efforts to provide clean drinking water to Haitian villages by underwriting well-digging projects. Raising awareness of the worldwide disparity in access to clean drinking water also remains an ongoing focus of the Chapter’s programming.

The Chapter annually donates to The Haiti Foundation for Hope and five years ago rallied to support the Little Dresses project. To date, the Chapter has completed and donated over 350 dresses and $500 in funds to assist with shipping the dresses. The chapter’s International Awareness and Involvement Committee in partnership with Delta Arts Center organized the project. This year, members of the Center’s quilting class were invited to join in the sewing.  Those volunteers were Natalie Summers, Irma Jackson and quilting instructor Clem Mauney.

In past years, having learned of the project through Delta Art Center’s website and social media outreach, community members and ladies from Augsburg Lutheran Church have volunteered to assist with making dresses. Chapter members making dresses this year or donating fabric were Billie Matthews, Viola Roseboro, Marie Jarvis Nicholson, Deborah Daniels, Suzette Willis and Peggy Moore.

The Chapter’s International Awareness and Involvement Committee is chaired by Glenda Hosch and has the following members: Peggy Moore, Karen Dominique, Sherlane Hill, Billie Matthews, Brenda Johnson, Daphne Holmes-Johnson, Cynthia Jeffries, Laverne Gaither, and Marie Jarvis Nicholson. Elizabeth Newton is president of the Winston-Salem Alumnae Chapter.