PHOTOS BY MARK ZACKS

health

Leah and Alice Zacks work
together to take beads from
a donated wedding gown.

Angels Above

BARBARA LEWIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Volunteers create
burial gowns
and more to aid
grieving parents
of babies.

Volunteer Alice Zacks with Dawn
Lafferty, founder of Angels Above

J

ewish customs in death and mourning are low-key compared
to those of some other faiths. There’s generally no viewing of
the body, which is traditionally clothed in a plain white mus-
lin or linen shroud.
So, it may seem a little odd that a Jewish woman from West
Bloomfield spends hours every week volunteering for a nonprofit
organization that uses old wedding gowns to create burial dresses
for stillborn babies and deceased newborns.
Alice Zacks has been volunteering almost since its inception
for Angels Above Baby Gowns. The organization was founded by
Dawn Lafferty of Garden City in 2014.
Lafferty read about a nurse in Washington state who delivered a
stillborn baby and didn’t have anything to wrap it in except a used
washcloth.
The story touched her, and Lafferty, an expert seamstress,
decided to do something to help parents facing a similar tragedy.
She posted a request for volunteers on Facebook and got an
immediate response.
Now she and a cadre of volunteers prepare gift packets for
parents who suffer a stillbirth or neonatal loss. The packets are
distributed to hospitals in Michigan and more than a dozen other
states and through Hospice of Michigan. Lafferty’s goal is to send
packages to hospitals in every state by the end of next year.
The hospitals give them to parents as needed. In Michigan, the
infant mortality rate is about seven out of 1,000 births.
The group has distributed more than 13,500 packages.

In addition to a gown — they are customized for boys and girls
and come in various sizes, from super-preemie to full-term — the
packages include a burial wrap, a bracelet or necklace, a cro-
cheted hat for the baby, a blanket and an angel ornament that the
parents can keep.

REPURPOSED WITH LOVE
Lafferty has about 40 active volunteers. Some wash and dry the
gowns in Lafferty’s basement laundry room. Some volunteers dis-
mantle the gowns, removing any lace and appliques for use in the
baby gowns and wraps, and taking any pearls and crystals for the
bracelets and ornaments.
Other volunteers cut out the baby dress pieces from the materi-
al. Some sew the gowns at Lafferty’s house; more, including Zacks,
take the fabric pieces and trimmings home to do the sewing. Back
in Garden City, the volunteers then assemble the completed pieces
into kits.
Lafferty has 10 active satellite groups in other states, many
started by Detroiters who moved away.
Zacks got involved after reading an article about Angels Above
Baby Gowns in the West Bloomfield Beacon just as she was looking
for a volunteer opportunity. Because she likes to sew, it was a good
fit. She spends several hours every Thursday at Lafferty’s house
working for the program.
She also hunts down old bridal gowns at garage and estate sales.
She’s willing to buy them, but when she explains why she wants

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February 23 • 2017

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