Hometown Hero: Mary Ann Hlavenka

Mary Ann Hlavenka is a great-grandmother who loves to sew and she's an expert.

In 2014 she learned about the NICU Helping Hands Angel Gown Program and it's been part of her life ever since.

In Dallas Fort Worth, when a baby dies in a children's hospital, an Angel Gown is given free of charge to the grieving parents. The gowns are beautiful and made with love by 20 local volunteer seamstresses, like Mary Ann.

Brides generously donate their wedding gowns and the seamstresses create the burial gowns.  Mary Ann estimates that one wedding gown can be turned into 10 Angel Gowns.

The work is sad but it's also beautiful because the brides who donate and the seamstresses who sew, know that they are helping parents at the most painful time in their lives by giving them a beautiful gown for their departed baby. Letting them know that people care.

If you'd like to donate a wedding gown, donate money for shipping the gowns or volunteer as an Angel Gown seamstress log on to www.nicuhelpinghands.org