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Bag of dresses from Hutterite colony sparks mission to assist African families

Claremont woman establishes charity with help from Hutterite sewers, network of pastors

Elisa Sand's avatar
Elisa Sand
Dec 07, 2025
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Hutterite ladies help pack boxes of donations for Mommy Missions. Courtesy photo.

Annalisa Cutler didn’t set out to create a nonprofit organization helping people in Africa.

But through an unexpected and unpredictable series of events, that’s exactly what’s happened.

A stay-at-home mother of 17 children in Claremont, Cutler said the entire journey for Mommy Missions started with a bag of dresses donated by members of the Thunderbird Hutterite Colony near Faulkton.

“I was going to get vegetables,” Cutler recalled. “After she loaded me up with vegetables, she tossed a bag into my van.”

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Editor’s note: This article is part of a promotional partnership between TheDakotaScout.com and Juna Sleep Systems.

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Elisa Sand's avatar
A guest post by
Elisa Sand
I have been reporting in South Dakota since 1999 and Aberdeen since 2013. I am currently associate editor for The Aberdeen Insider covering local news for Aberdeen.
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