Reading through a recent email, Nancy Johnson-Srebro's eyes fixated on a thumbnail size picture of a child.
Even though she never met the child, she immediately felt connected to the young African girl.
The girl was wearing an orange dress with a pattern of scattered green leaves - a dress that Mrs. Johnson-Srebro, of Tunkhannock, had hand-sewn through her volunteer work with the nonprofit group Little Dresses for Africa.
"I was speechless," said Mrs. Johnson-Srebro.
In March, she spearheaded a regional effort to sew dresses and shorts and then donate them to children in Africa. Now, after a "tremendous" effort from volunteers in Tunkhannock, Montrose, Wyalusing and Waverly, the group has sewn and donated 341 dresses and more than 200 shorts for Little Dresses for Africa. The Christian organization, founded in 2007 and based in Brownstown, Mich., has volunteers throughout the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. It has donated more than a million dresses to young girls through orphanages, churches and schools in 42 African counties.
"It's been an amazing show of support from the local communities," said Mrs. Johnson-Srebro, who estimated that it takes about two hours to sew a dress. "We're not done, though. We've set a goal of 500 dresses to donate."
Though she's the driving force behind the local group, Mrs. Johnson-Srebro wasn't interested in joining at first.
"I gave it a shot, and I loved it," she said. "I think God had another plan for me."
Mrs. Johnson-Srebro then traveled to local churches and quilt groups, where she told residents about the organization and showcased the dresses she had sewn.
It worked.
More than 75 volunteers from different area quilt groups - including Peg Winter, founder of Always in Stitches - started sewing dresses.
"She came to our quilt group of about 25 women and showed us a few dresses," Ms. Winter said. "Almost all of us were fascinated by the idea and wanted to join the group."
As the number of volunteers increased, so did the amount of fabric and thread required to get the job done. And soon, Mrs. Johnson-Srebro was receiving three boxes of fabric and thread at a time, donated by various companies.
"We are going to continue working to improve this organization and bring more people on board," she said. "My personal goal is to sew 500 dresses."
Contact the writer: miorfino@timesshamrock.com