Editor's Note: The following was submitted by Mount Vernon Patch reader Zelda Shute.

During the summer of 2012, Mount Vernon-area Girl Scout Troop 874 initiated a dressmaking project for the girls living and/or going to school at the Haiti Micah Project orphanage. Many of the Girl Scouts had no previous experience with sewing, but they learned to sew and recruited many friends and community members to help with this ambitious sewing project. Eighty-two dresses were designed and sewn over the past two months by the Girl Scouts and a few members of our Mount Vernon community. Younger area girls made beautiful friendship bracelets that coordinate with the bright colors of the dresses the older Scouts made. Yards of colorful fabric and notions were donated by our community as well.The Haiti Micah Project is responsible for 400 at-risk and vulnerable children who need food, water, clothing, healthcare and school tuition and supplies.

The 82 dresses will be delivered to the orphanage in Haiti in September.