BROWNTOWN — For Jillian Ballard, 11, Browntown, spending a summer sitting at the TV all day is unimaginable. 

Instead, she chose to spend her summer sewing dresses. Not for herself or family members or friends; Ballard’s goal was to create clothing for children in Africa 

The organization Little Dresses for Africa, founded in 2008 by Rachel O’Neill of Brownstown, Michigan, sends dresses made by people all over the country to Africa each week. 

Each dress is put into a bag with $2 and labeled with the size. The money then helps cover the cost of distributing the dresses. 

In the 10 years since the organization began, dresses have been sent out to 47 African nations and 37 other countries, including much of Latin America and Europe. Over 5 million dresses have been collected and distributed. 

With the help of her grandmother, Marilyn Ballard, Jillian completed 17 dresses ranging from small, toddler-sized dresses to dresses that will fit an older child. 

Now in sixth grade, Jillian started sewing at 8 years old and has often used her talent to help others, making pillows for each of her classmates in fourth grade and a quilt for her parents.

Jillian enjoys sewing because it is time-consuming but also fun. 

“It’s not a pressure-filled thing every day all day long,” Jillian said. “(There’s nothing) making you feel like you have to be doing it.”

After sending dresses to children across the ocean, Jillian still plans to keep stitching. She is currently working on quilts for veterans in hospice care. The blankets will be presented to the veteran’s family members after they’ve died.

“Her heart is so huge that it’s like there’s not enough hours in the day to keep up with what she wants to do for others,” Marilyn said.

Marilyn taught Jillian how to sew and said she enjoys seeing her granddaughter display pride at the projects Jillian completes. 

“I just want children to see that they’re never too young to start giving and helping with their community,” Marilyn said.

Jillian and her grandmother hope that other children will be able to see the impact that one person can make and inspire other young people to seek ways to help others, Ballard said. 

Another future project Jillian is hoping to work on is making reusable pads for young women in Africa. Jillian was upset to hear about the amount of school missed by young women, often up to a week, because of their menstrual cycle.

She learned that a number of women are without access to feminine hygiene products and knew she had to do something about it. 

“We can’t take care of (everyone), but she can help one person because that’s where it starts,” Marilyn said.

Anyone interested in working on similar projects can find them at littledressesforafrica.org.