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.

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