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SOUTH JORDAN — A 13-year-old Girl Scout with a big heart is working to help at least 100 girls in foster care feel a little more at home with a very special gift: their own American Girl doll.
With a goal of earning her Girl Scout Silver Award, Addy Shorr is sewing and collecting 1,000 18-inch doll outfits, which will be donated to Special Dollivery, an organization that refurbishes and donates gently used American Girl Dolls to foster children in Utah. Addy is also collecting new or used American Girl dolls.
"I thought it would be a good idea because when I was younger loved to play with American Girl dolls, and I thought that they were one of the best things to have because I could just do almost anything with them and pretend it was basically anything," Addy said. "And I felt this is like a really good idea of a way that you can help foster kids have something that they can bring with them to all of their new houses, and they can just do whatever they want with it and pretend whatever they want with it."
Addy has taken it upon herself to teach her fellow Girl Scouts to sew some of the outfits and is working with My Girlfriend's Quilt Shoppe to collect outfits as well. The quilt shop has offered to donate fabric to the cause.
Special Dollivery founder Susan Robison said each doll that is donated to a foster child comes with a pair of pajamas, a skirt set, a pant set, two dresses, a pair of shoes, underwear and a travel bag.
"These bags are almost as important as the dolls because we donate these to foster care, and these kids live such a grab-and-go life because they can go from one foster care family to another with very little notice. And lots of times everything they own gets shoved in a garbage bag, and they just take it," Robison said. "We wanted them to have something special and durable that they can not only store their doll and all its accessories in, but they could also have it to grab in an instant and take with them."
Robison said she and the other grandmas who work at Special Dollivery chose to donate American Girl dolls because they wanted the recipients of the dolls to have something of value. She said after they refurbish them, they can last another couple of generations, and it's a gift these girls in foster care can one day pass on to their children.
"We just think it's about time somebody gave them something that had value and is long-lasting, and that would mean something to them," Robison said.
Robison predicts the outfits sewn and collected by Addy will ensure that between 100 and 150 dolls will be fully outfitted and ready to go to a new home. "Which means 100 to 150 children will have something special in their lives because of Addy," she said. "She's making a difference in the life of kids who are possibly having one of the very worst days of their lives."
According to Girl Scouts of Utah Chief Marketing Officer Callie Birdsall-Chambers, the girls in foster care who receive dolls from Addy's project will also receive a free Girl Scout membership, thanks to generous donors.
Others who are wanting to help with this project can either donate dolls or store-bought doll clothes or sew 18-inch doll outfits. Donations can be dropped off at My Girlfriend's Quilt Shoppe in Logan or Sandy, or can be mailed to 61 W. 800 South Smithfield, Utah 84335. Addy is planning to finish her project by the end of January. Those who would like more information about how they can help can email "the_c_shorrs@hotmail.com."
"I just want to say how important it is for us to share this joy of service with kids. And Addy has just taken that young humanitarian passion that we hope that we instill to the whole next level," Susan Robison said. "Because kids who serve become adults who serve, and our world needs a whole lot more of that right now."
