Virginia Western Community College’s Nursing Club will donated angel dresses and suits to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital Tuesday as part of a year-long service project led by students. Angel dresses or suits are burial outfits for babies who have recently passed away that are created from donated wedding gowns. The students created a total of 140 dresses/suits they donated to Carilion Clinic and will to LewisGale Medical Center.
“We are very proud to be able to provide these outfits. They are a true blessing to many people,” said Virginia Western nursing student Miranda Hurd. “On the worst day of a mother and father’s life, they will be able to see their baby in a beautiful gown that is all theirs, no questions asked. Some of these gowns came from women in our program who know the pain of losing a child. So it is very special.”
Virginia Western’s nursing students complete service projects each year, but this is the first time they have created angel dresses. Mary Graham, a retiree who volunteered to help, worked with the students to sew the dresses out of five wedding dresses over a period of several months.
Each dress or suit is unique and the students, along with Graham, delivered the first dresses to the pediatric unit at Carilion Roanoke Memorial on Tuesday.
