Isabel Gampon believes ‘every girl deserves a dress’

Isabel Gampon, 10, recently sewed eight dresses, but they were not for herself.

“My daughter Isabel chose to do her Girl Scouts Bronze Award Project to help less fortunate girls right here on our island by designing and sewing dresses made out of pillowcases,” said Ray Gampon of Kalaheo in an email.

The Girl Scouts Bronze Award is a leadership award and the highest honor a Girl Scout Junior can achieve, Ray explained.

Girls select a project which will help make the world a better place, doing all of the steps necessary to plan, coordinate and complete the project.

“The Girl Scout Junior Troop decided on sewing the dresses for girls their own age who may not own a dress,” Ray said.

“This started out as a Troop project, but due to school and summer schedules, only Isabel was able to complete the project.”

With mom assisting, Isabel set out to purchase all of the supplies and sewed a sample dress by herself.

“Isabel has taken several sewing classes from Aunty Eileen Miyasato and is very comfortable in front of a sewing machine,” Ray said.

Once the sample was completed, Isabel and her mother contacted Child and Family Services who referred them to Momi Machado at Nana’s House in Waimea.

“Isabel told her she could sew more dresses if Aunty Momi could find girls who she thought would benefit from the dresses,” Ray said.

“Momi said Nana’s House would be honored to have the dresses and she knows of many girls who would love a dress.”

Prompted by the enthusiastic response from Machado, Isabel got to work.

“She wanted to spice up the dresses by adding prints and patterns to the plain pillowcases,” Ray said. “She selected all of the materials and color coordinated them.”

Following the completion of the dresses, eight were delivered to Nana’s House, each with a special note attached explaining the dresses were made with love.

“The end product is amazing,” Ray said. “Every girl deserves a dress.”