‘Your baby mattered’: How Angels Above Baby Gowns comforts families facing infant loss

Wedding dresses often represent the beginning of a new chapter. For one group of volunteers in Ocala, those same dresses are being given a different purpose: providing comfort to families grieving the loss of an infant.Turning wedding dresses into lasting keepsakesAngels Above Baby Gowns transforms donated wedding dresses into burial garments for babies who are stillborn or die shortly after birth. A team of retired volunteers gathers weekly to turn the dresses into gowns, blankets, hats, booties and other keepsakes for grieving families.The nonprofit, which also has a chapter in Michigan, has distributed an estimated 30,000 burial packages since its founding in 2014. The items are provided free of charge to families and hospitals across the country.The volunteers begin by photographing each donated wedding dress before carefully taking it apart. They then cut, sew and crochet the fabric into infant burial garments in sizes ranging from premature to full-term.Every part of the dress is