As is the case with many great endeavors, they start with a small whisper.

First United Methodist Church organist, Margo Dillard, also works at Denton Regional Medical Center, which is a designated Sexual Abuse Nurse Examiner hospital.When victims come into the ER, their clothes are turned over to the police for evidence.For some time the hospital had been supplying Scrubs to the victims, both adults and children.The adult sizes were available online, although not inexpensive.For the little ones, they had to be made.

All of a sudden, donations and fabric had dried up.Margo mentioned this to the Pastor at FUMC, who mentioned it to the women’s group, The Dorcas Circle, who immediately sprang into action, with scrubs, underwear, socks, in all sizes, about 500 yards of donated fabric and more soft stuffed toys than could be counted.

In September of 2007, this story ran in the Neighbors Go section of the Dallas Morning News with a plea for donations and volunteers.The response was overwhelming and suddenly our choir room was packed with donations for Margo to take back to Denton. Many were concerned individuals, one was a large marketing firm, Ivie, Inc. and some were area churches.Wemust also commend the Neighbors section for all they did to help make this dilemma public.

One of the first responders, Donna Johnson, of the Round Grove United Church of Christ in Lewisville, was deeply touched.She immediately got some of her congregation involved and they formed a team to continue to help these little children who had already suffered such violations.Donna also had ideas to extend the project by buying the fabric and recruiting an excellent seamstress, Marianne Beveridge,to make the scrubs, which werethen donated to Denton Regional Medical Center.The little children’s scrubs were initially used to help them identify with the doctors and nurses.Now with the help of Round Grove United Church of Christ, they more closely resemble designer outfits.

Made of the softest cotton, in patterns of cartoon prints and pastels, with pockets and custom embroidery, they are now made withpure love and the added purpose of comforting the children. Donna’s team also makes by hand, small blanketsof the softest fabric.Who has not seen the comfort a small child derives fromclutching a favorite blanket?

This is a story about love, constancy, and faith working together for our community.Even afterthe initial outpouring of donations trickled off as other stories took the forefront, Round Grove United Church of Christ has been steadfast and I know at regular intervals, I will get a call from Donna Johnson saying, “I’m coming to your church tomorrow with scrubs and blankets”.