Feedback on Dress Distribution - India (April 2013)

Sharing with you some pictures taken from the recent distribution of dresses to the children of the Garden of Life family in Andhra Pradesh State, India.

For more pictures from the distribution, please click here. Thank you to all the donors who made this distribution possible.

Parcel deliveries this week

Two parcels were delivered/claimed at the postoffice this week - 

(1) Masaka Uganda parcel picked up by Robert Luwalira of Home Sweet Orphanage last Monday,27th of May and 
(2) Parcel sent to Wilcannia NSW delivered last Friday 24th of May to Save the Children Wilcannia as advised by Australia Post late this afternoon. 

Cant believe it took about 20 days for the parcel to get to Wilcannia. Happy that it finally arrived. A whole lot of thanks to everyone who made these two parcels possible. Thank you.

Now I need to know what happened to the PNG parcel I sent last month. It looks like it has not been delivered yet. More on this soon!

Must be my lucky day

Today must be my lucky day. I received two emails about the dresses sent to India and Papua New Guinea:

PNG - it is almost a year now of the girls enjoying wearing the dresses and the boys the pants. I received a couple of pictures attached to the email but unfortunately I do not have the permission to publish them here but let me assure you the kids look so beautiful with the dresses. Thank you everyone for keeping the girls safe with the dresses you have donated.

India - with the dresses sent in April. The children are so happy with their new dresses they wear it almost everyday. They loved the dresses because they feel so comfortable wearing them. I was also told that pictures have been uploaded but am not sure where. I replied back asking if they could tell me where the pictures were uploaded and once I get a reply I will share it with you. Thank you once again everyone for the dresses you have donated.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/05 #65 - Bunch of dresses from Di

Number 65 and for the month of May is a bunch of dresses from Di Menzel. Here are the dresses she has sent this time -

To Di, thank you so much for the dresses. Thank you for helping make a world where every girl owns at least one dress. Much appreciated.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/05 #64 - Dresses from Alana

Back to donation acknowledgements and this time number 64 is a parcel of 2 dainty dresses from Alana Pritchard. Alana I believe is a member of the Bobkin Sewciety who is running a charity drive for Dress A Girl (around the world) Australia. Here are the dresses she made -

To Alana, thank you for the dresses. Thank you for sharing your kindness and generosity with the less fortunate children around the world. Much appreciated.

If you want to know what keeps Alana busy, check out her facebook page here.

Collection for Thailand is now closed

In addition to the other active collections, I was also actively collecting for the children of Thailand (a combination of 9 boys and 16 girls). This collection has been fully allocated and is now closed.

Some of the allocated dresses are now in the album. The rest of the items will be moved very soon to complete the collection once the list of donors are finalized.

Thank you to everyone who made this collection possible.

Active Dress Collections

A friend asked me why I keep on counting dresses and I told her I have large collections going on at the moment with Dress A Girl Australia and I dont want to miss the opportunity to be able to provide dresses to these children in several locations.  Then she asked me why dont you organize a charity drive again the same way you did last year and I told her it might be a bit late for it and most especially that there are several locations to allocate almost at the same time. (I did notice that I havent done any charity drives since 2013 started until she mentioned it.) Good on her for reminding me. :-)

Anyway, I thought I would share with everyone the currently very active dress collections I am doing and have also noted the cut-off dates for the dresses to be in as I need extra time to prep them up and send to the groups who will be handcarrying them on our behalf. For those who are donating and want their dresses to go to a specific location, please include a note specifying your location of preference and include it in your parcel (if you miss inserting a note, you can send them to me on the email - dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com)

Here are some important reminders and tips :

1) For locations such as Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh & Nepal, preferences will be given to dresses with sleeves or dresses that covers the shoulders.
2) Size Preferences -
          Sri Lanka, Bangladesh & Nepal - Sizes between 4 to 10
          Cambodia - Sizes between 6 to 12

                *** Some of these locations are very conservative so longer lengths will be much appreciated. At least a dress that covers the knees. If a size you are making comes with a certain length to the dress, an extra inch or 2 added to the length would be much appreciated. ****
               *** As usual, take care of the necklines that they are not too wide for the children ***

3) Again, no thin or flimsy type of fabrics as they will not look good. If you are using the flimsy type, please make sure it has a lining. Dresses do not have to be very fancy. What is important is that the dress is wearable and will last longer or outgrown by the child.

I have put on-hold other collections I have started(India, Kenya, Phils, Vietnam, Mbale Uganda) to give priority to these collections. Some of these collections are almost filled up, some are on-going and some are just starting. Once I have finalized what I have counted and allocated, I will give an update (most likely by the end of this week -1st of June) so everyone would know where I am still lacking. The on-hold collections will restart once I have filled up these collections. I have provided you with links to the albums (by a  click of the mouse on the image). I will be moving collections to these albums soon so the donors(old and new) will know where their donations are going.

Minimum of 150 dresses.  
End date : July 2013

Minimum of 100 dresses.  
End date : August 2013

Number of dresses needed : 75  
End Date : September 2013

Number of dresses is currently being finalized.  
End date : September 2013

Combined number of dresses and shorts is 240.  
End date : August 2013

The Northern Uganda parcels need to be posted by the end of August to arrive in Uganda before December. As soon as I get the right number of allocations between the boys and the girls, I will start packing and send them off. The Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Nepal collections will be handcarried by a group of volunteers. Bangladesh will be under the care of my niece who works for the UN in Bangladesh.

Please be guided accordingly with the tips and dates of completion to avoid inconveniences. I dont think my one-dress-a-day journey will be able to meet these requirements although I will be trying hard to meet these targets (including the ones on-hold) so any dress donations you can provide or fabric materials I can use to make dresses will be greatly appreciated. If you feel you have any questions to ask, please feel free to send me an email at dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com.

Thank you in advance!

Dress Distribution #27 - 50 dresses for the 'Clothes for Nepal campaign

I know I need more dresses but when Karin Maltby sent me a message about the Clothes for Nepal campaign of Cara Clark of QLD I could not ignore. To support her on her campaign, I allocated 50 dresses and sent off to her yesterday morning. (Am I lucky that the postoffice in the suburb where I live is open on Saturday mornings and is only about 5 minutes away from where I live by car.)

Here are the 50 dresses -

that were inside this parcel - ((I wiped out the address from the picture for privacy reasons).

made possible by the following donors -
1) Holly Landman
2) Ladies of Kapunda Sewing Group, South Australia
3) Ruby Schalk
4) Linda Smyth
5) Karin Maltby and group from Perth
6) Helen Shearer
7) Hobart Embroidery Club and others, Tasmania
8) Two Bettys (Betty Barrett and Betty Paull)
9) Claudia and Sarah Petrie
10) Monika Osvald
11) Gaylene Herrmann
12) Amanda Sampson (sewn by Katherine Nott)
13) Katherine Nott
14) The Sewing Library facebook group
15) Heather Harris
16) Hiroko Price
17) Dress A Girl Australia

For larger images of the items, please click here. For more details on the dress distribution, please click here or on the 'Dress Distribution' tab which can be found at the top of this page.

Heaps and heaps of thanks to the donors who made this distribution possible. Thank you all for your kindness and generosity. And a very special thank you from the bottom of my heart to Jennifer Howlett for providing financial support on the cost of sending the parcel. Thank you Jennifer. Much appreciated.

Thank you everyone for helping make a difference....one small dress at a time!

Thank you for helping spread the word

Special thanks to the following for helping spread the word around -

I received an email from Shannon who is the Leisure and Lifestyle Coordinator at UnitingCare Ageing in Sydney Region. She came across the ‘Dress A Girl Around The World’ project and decided to get their aged care facilities involved. Residents from their facilities have sewn up to 50 dresses from pillowcases that were donated by their organisation’s linen supplier. They had one big group sewing bee and residents still continue to make dresses in their homes as a part of their weekly activity schedule. Isnt that amazing! Thank you so much Shannon and please extend my heartfelt thanks to all the residents who are involved in this project. Thank you!

To Frances Cornish for doing a great job spreading the word around to sewing groups in the ACT area. One of the groups has made 39 dresses and I see more to come. Thanks a lot Frances. Much appreciated.

A little bit of this and that - Helpful tips and hints for sleeved dresses

In my sorting of dresses with capped sleeves/peasant dresses I noticed that some necklines are still a bit wide that it might end up too wide for the child wearing it and we dont want the dress to fall off or make the child feel uncomfortable wearing it. Please note that these type of dresses are going to children that are of small build, where sometimes a 12-year old could only be a size 8 and not a size 12. If anyone is using a pattern which has a size 12-child or size 12-adult, please make sure you use the pattern size 12-child. We want to make sure that the dress is wearable and not too big for the child.

              ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A couple of weeks ago I received an email from Betty Barrett asking me if it was ok to use ribbons for the neckline of a peasant or capped-sleeved dresses instead of elastic as you can thread them through a neckline casing (pardon me if am not using the proper sewing terms in here). Last night I saw my response to her in my 'deleted items' folder and my response was yes and that she can even use fabric instead of ribbon and this would make the dress more flexible especially that you can adjust the neckline. Last night while sorting dresses for Cambodia I actually found about 8 dresses from Deirdre Parker using exactly what Betty Barrett was asking about. And here is a picture of some of those dresses. Thank you Betty for sharing this idea. 

Again, PLEASE think of this as a positive feedback. Am not trying to criticise your dresses, they are all beautiful (I even think I am not capable of making those dresses the way you make them) and I appreciate what everyone is doing but I just want to make sure that all dresses you make and donate is usable to locations where they are going. 

For the dresses that I have that I think have wide necklines (and which I think will probably make the girl who wears it uncomfortable) I pinned fabric flowers to each dress to make the neckline smaller. I really have no time to repair them. All my spare time is used in sorting, packing, organizing distributions, responding to queries, filling up orders on labels, spreading the word, making and selling handmade items to sell so I can keep on making a difference to the lives of the disadvantaged children around the world and lots of other stuff requiring my attention so I am hoping that everyone will understand when I make some positive feedbacks regarding some of the dresses I received. 

If I have to spend time and effort in sorting out these dresses and note what I believe needs some adjustment it is because I care about the clothes I send to girls who probably never owned at least one dress in their lifetime as beautiful as the dresses you all are making and I care and want to make sure that each girl who receives a dress feels comfortable and enjoys wearing the dress.

Again, thank you so much and thank you for your support. Much appreciated.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/05 #63 - From the Ladies of Kapunda S.A.

Number 63 on the list is a parcel from Deborah Parish and the Ladies of Kapunda S.A.

The parcel includes 12 dresses from Julie Quast, Deborah Parish, Dianne Cain and Chris Redden. From Sue Schmidt are the dozen boys' t-shirts and the rest of the goodies like the girls and boys' undies comes from Deborah Parish and the other ladies including the two pairs of shorts for the boys. 

Check out the goodies here -

To all the ladies of Kapunda, thank you so much for your unwavering support, kindness and generosity. It is very much appreciated. Thank you.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/05 #62 - From Sian McIntosh

Number 62 for the month of May is the parcel I picked up last Saturday from Sian McIntosh. Inspired by my 'One Dress A Day for 365 days' journey and knowing there was no way she could match this she decided to try for one dress a month. Four months have passed and four dresses made which she usually does on the last Sunday of each month. Here are the dresses she made for January, February, March and April -

Sian works full-time and has also chosen to make a difference in this world through Dress A Girl (Around the World) Australia. Way to go Sian! Another one of us living the year of 2013 making a difference.

Sian, thank you so much for joining me on this journey. It is much appreciated. Thank you.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/05 #61 - From Kaylee Healy

Number 61 on the list for the month of May is a parcel of 8 dresses from Kaylee Healy. What 8 pretty dresses for 8 lucky girls anywhere in the world.

To Kaylee, thank you for these 8 pretty dresses. Thank you for your kindness and generosity. It is much appreciated.

If you want to join us in making a world where every little girl owned at least one dress, join us in making a difference in the life of a girl by making her a dress. For more details, please write to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com.

Dresses with sleeves

The demand for dresses with sleeves (or covers the shoulders) is quite high and I think I am running out of these type of dresses. My one-t-shirt-dress-a-day cannot seem to cope.

If there is anyone who could help and who would like to sew these type of dresses and donate preferably between the sizes of 4 and 10, it will be very much appreciated. 

First delivery is July but for such a large quantity.

Thanks a whole lot!

One Dress A Day - May 1-15

We are now on the second half of May and in another two weeks it will be June. By that time I will be halfway to my One Dress A Day for 365 days journey. This is where I am as of the 15th of May. 15 dresses for 15 days and mostly if not all T-shirt dresses in preparation for a coming big collection of dresses with sleeves. Perhaps the largest collection I will be targetting for distribution towards the end of the year in 3 locations. More details on this collection will be made available very soon but in the meantime check out the first 15 dresses for May I made.

Donors of fabrics and accessories will be acknowledged at the end of the month. If you want to keep track of how am doing with this journey, please click here or click on the '365 days diary' tab which you can find at the top of this page. 

Will continue on posting a few more dresses(Day 136 to 139) I finished for this month.

Last Donation on behalf of the winning bidders(Charity Auction-November 2012) Batch 4

Wow! This is actually a big surprise and the girl who is going to receive and wear this dress is probably the luckiest girl in the world for this dress has been lost and now is found. Dress was donated by Christie Sturre of Joyfoolery on behalf of Rachel Platt a winning bidder of the Charity Auction held last November 2012.

This dress has been reported in the postoffice as lost but after almost 6 months it found its way last week to my postal box. Whatever happened to it between November of last year until last week does not matter but what matters is it has been found and is going to dress another girl around the world.

Thank you to Christie for donating the dress on behalf of  Rachel Platt and whoever found this parcel and sent it to its rightful owner thank you. Much appreciated.

Quilt Exhibition and Dress A Girl Kapunda Group fundraiser on this weekend in Kapunda South Australia

A Quilt Exhibition by the Kapunda Quilters and a fundraiser event for Dress A Girl Around the World by the Ladies of Kapunda Sewing Group in South Australia will start tomorrow, May 18 and May 19. It is at C.W.A. Hall, Main Street Kapunda S.A. and open from 10am to 4pm.

For those living in Kapunda and nearby suburbs, if you have nothing to do this weekend, this is an event not to be missed. Please help spread the word around.

Thanks everyone and Good Luck to the Ladies of Kapunda Sewing Group.

Dress A Girl New Zealand

Happy to let everyone know especially those from New Zealand that New Zealand has now a group called Dress A Girl Around the World(New Zealand). If anyone wants to get in touch with the group here is the group's email address. They are also starting to blog about their activities and here is the link to their blog.

Email Address - dressagirlnz@gmail.com

Blog - http://dressagirlnz.blogspot.com

Just like me and some volunteers/campaigners/supporters, this group have full-time jobs during the day but have also chosen to make a difference in this world through Dress A Girl Around the World. Welcome Ladies!

One Dress A Day for 365 Days for April 2013

After a disappointing March, I did my best to make up for it this month and here it is - 29 dresses and 3 pairs of shorts bringing my total as of today to 114 dresses out of a possible 120/120 days - One dress a day for 365 days, my journey in 2013. WooHoo!!!

These dresses wouldn't have been made possible without the generosity of the following donors:
Fabric Donations -
1) My mum Jolly
2) Monika Osvald Collection
3) Sash Hinton
4) Linda Smyth Collection
5) Meredith Cain 
6) Dress A Girl Australia

T-Shirt Donations -
1) Heyboom shop
2) Monika Osvald
3) Dress A Girl Australia

Thank you so much to everyone for their kindness and generosity. It is very much appreciated.

If you want to keep track of how am doing with this journey, please click here or click on the '365 days diary' tab which you can find at the top of this page.

Keep watching as May dresses start to get posted!!

To all the Mums in the World

Dear Mums all over the World ,

       "Touch this heart...and you will know how much we love you"

From Dress A Girl (Around the World) Australia

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/05 #60 - Bundles of Fabrics from Jennifer

Number 60 on the list are these bundles of fabrics from Jennifer Howlett. She wrote to say that she cant seem to find the time to sew (but maybe in a few month's time) so she is sending these bundles which she hopes can be of help.

To Jennifer, thank you so much for the fabrics. They definitely will be a big help. I will certainly make them into dresses on your behalf. My heartfelt thanks for your thoughtfulness and generosity.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/05 #59 - From 5 Little Speckled Frogs

Number 59 on the list is a parcel of 7 dresses from 5 Little Speckled Frogs which is based in Gladstone Queensland and sent in by Hiroko Price. She and another mum I think likes making dresses thus the 5 little speckled frogs' business was born.

Thank you 5 Little Speckled Frogs. Thank you for finding the time to make dresses for the disadvantaged children around the world. It is very much appreciated. Thank you.

If you want to check out their products or like their facebook page, please check them out here.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/05 #58 - From Heather

Thirteen dresses, 4 boys' shorts and 2 packs of undies from Heather Harris is number 58 on my list this month. Sometimes Heather sews dresses out of fabrics donated by family and friends but this batch is her personal contribution.

To Heather, thank you so much for your kindness and generosity and for the time and effort you spend in helping other people make a difference by sewing on their behalf. It is much appreciated. Thank you.

Finishing Touches Reminder when making dresses and/or pairs of shorts

Just another friendly reminder to everyone who wants to make dresses and pairs of shorts for Dress A Girl (Around the World) Australia - 

          Please when or before you pack your dresses for posting, please make sure that all 
          pins have been removed from the dresses. Thank you.

Also for anyone who wants to know more about t-shirt dresses, here is a link to best t-shirt dress tutorial by Karen Mills-Thomas of Dress A Girl Virginia. Please click on the image to link to the tutorial. 

The link can also be found on the left navigation pane under 'Tutorials - How to Make Dresses.

Distribution Feedback

I thought I would share this posting here in my blog  for everyone to read especially those who do not have any facebook account. This is a posting feedback I shared from the QCCT page -

Thank you to QCCT for helping transport the dresses. Your time and effort spent in making this happen is very much appreciated. Thanks a whole lot!

To know more about the works of QCCT, please click here or check out their facebook page here.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/05 #57 - From Jo Taunton

Jo Taunton is back with a dozen dresses for a dozen disadvantaged children around the world. Number 57 on the list and for the month of May. Here are the dozen dresses from Jo -

To Jo, thank you so much for your support. Thank you for making a difference in this world through your dresses. It is very much appreciated. Thank you!

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/05 #56 - From Pat Pynn and Friend

Number 56 on the list is from Pat Pynn and a friend from Adelaide. 18 gorgeous dresses for the month of May. They both loved making the dresses and hopes to get more to send soon. Here are the 18 dresses -

To Pat and friend, thank you so much for your support of dressing girls around the world. Thank you for your kindness and generosity. Much appreciated.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/05 #55 - From Lorraine Walter

Number 55 on the list and for the month of May is a parcel of 10 dresses from Lorraine Walter who had a great time making the dresses. I guess you can see the fun she had from the colors. Here are the dresses she made -

To Lorraine, thanks a whole lot for the dresses. They are pretty and am sure the girls will look very pretty wearing them. Thank you.

Women of the World (Today's Christian Woman May/June 2013 digital magazine edition)

This article was published in the May/June 2013 digital magazine edition of Today's Christian Woman : Hope 4 Women International coverage. Australia being down under, you will see me featured at the bottom right hand corner. I thought I would share it with everyone (although I was a bit hesitant at first). Please click on the image below for a larger and readable version.

This was made possible by Allison J. Althoff, Associate Online Editor of Today's Christian Woman.  

If you want to know more about Today's Christian Woman publications, please click here or check out their facebook page here.

Thank you Allison.

Today's Christian Woman feature article on Dress A Girl Around the World April 2013

This is the article that was featured on the Today's Christian Woman published in April 2013 in their website. The 'Women of the World' article was posted in their May/June digital edition.

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Dress A Girl Around the World

Senior business systems analyst by day, seamstress by night, Australia's Gigi Sun "gives back" with her passion of sewing

Allison J. Althoff

  

By day Gigi Sun is a senior business systems analyst in Sydney, Australia. When her 7.5 hour workday ends, instead of relaxing at home, she starts crafting for global nonprofit organization Dress a Girl Around the World on a volunteer basis. "The best way I can give back something to the world that has been so kind and generous to me is through my love for crafting, something that I've always enjoyed doing," Gigi says. "It's extremely fulfilling and rewarding."

To date, Dress a Girl has provided more than 164,000 dresses for girls in 65 countries around the world. The organization is part of Hope 4 Women International, and people from across the United States, Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, the UK, Sweden, the Philippines, Uganda, and more gather for a day or an evening of sewing dresses out of pillowcases and fabric in living rooms, basements, back yards, dining rooms, schools, churches, and civic centers. Dress A Girl produces dresses to tell girls around the world they are precious to God, and Gigi's goal is to personally provide 50 new dresses in 6 months' time. "I love crafting and creating things, and life has been quite easy for me and my five sisters and three brothers," Gigi says. "Making dresses for disadvantaged children makes this world a better place to live in."

Gigi has been a crafter for as long as she can remember. She began by making homemade cards, donating a dollar from each sale to a breast cancer research foundation in Australia. She stumbled across Dress a Girl while doing research for a specific fabric for a quilt she was making, and hopes to help spread the Dress a Girl campaign to more locations around the world. "My greatest wish for the future is to be able to collect as many fabrics, pillowcases, and sewing machines as possible to make dresses for little girls in poverty-stricken places all around the world."

See Gigi and five other womens' stories from around the globe featured in the "Women of the World" section of the TCW May/June digital magazine at this link.

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For larger and more readable versions, here are the links to the articles -

May/June edition of our digital magazine, and it is accessible at this link: http://christianitytoday.imirus.com/Mpowered/book/vtcw13/i3/p6

longer feature article on our website: 

http://www.todayschristianwoman.com/articles/2013/april/dress-girl-around-world.html

Dress Distribution #26 - For the children of Wilcannia NSW c/o Save the Children Australia

As the saying goes 'Charity begins at home'. For the children of Wilcannia, NSW are 50 dresses and 54 pairs of shorts through the kindness and assistance of Belinda Ritchie, the Coordinator of Wilcannia, Save the Children Australia.

If you are wondering why it is packed, it is because I still had to send it via Australia Post as it was cheaper compared to hand delivery as the M7 highway toll turned out to be more expensive. 
Here are the 50 dresses packed in the box -

and the 54 pairs of shorts for the boys -

made possible by the following donors -
1) The Sewing Library facebook group
2) Ladies of Kapunda (Sewing Bee #3 - Loris Pullen, Margaret Adair, Deborah Parish)
3) Amanda Sampson
4) Doris Beaty
5) Katherine Nott
6) Valda Ridley
7) Threading My Way
8) Sarah Petrie and Family
9) Leonie Harrison
10) Karin Maltby and the ladies from Perth
11) Georgia Wood
12) Suzie Pickett
13) Prudence Mann's Mum
14) Sharyn Paull 
15) Sharyn Paull's Family
16) Delilah Balmer
17) Monika Osvald
18) Becs Bags
19) Deirdre Parker
20) Frances Cornish
21) Loris Pullen
22) Dress A Girl Australia

For larger images of the items, please click here. For more details on the dress distribution, please click here or on the 'Dress Distribution' tab which can be found at the top of this page.

Thank you so much to Lyn Garrard of Save the Children Australia for her time and effort spent in organizing this distribution. My heartfelt thank you to Belinda Ritchie, Coordinator of Wilcannia NSW for her time and effort she will be spending in distributing these dresses to the children. Thank you so much ladies. I will not be able to share these goodies without your help. Much appreciated.

If you want to know more about the works of Save the Children Australia, please click here or check out their facebook page here.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/05 #54 - Dresses, Shorts & Other Goodies from Sarah

Days go by so quickly and it is now the month of May and we all know that the month of May is when we celebrate another big event in everyone's life (next to Christmas of course). And not to be outdone, Dress A Girl Australia is also happily celebrating the generosity of all Australian women who are supporting the cause of Dress A Girl Around the World. A community of big-hearted people who wants every girl in the world to own at least one dress.

And the first on the list is Sarah Tanmahapran who sent her parcel for the month of May 3 weeks earlier. Making dresses must be addicting and most especially if they are meant to make a difference in the life of a less fortunate girl or a boy somewhere out there. For this month Sarah has contributed 11 dresses, 5 pairs of shorts and other small goodies (drawstring pouches/wallets) which will bring a bigger smile to the girl who will be lucky enough to receive it. Here are the goodies from Sarah -

Sarah, thank you so much for your consistent support of the Dress A Girl Around the World campaign. You must be having such a good time making these goodies and feel so fulfilled and rewarded by it. Thank you.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/04 #53 - From the Two Bettys

Last parcel for the month of April is from the Two Bettys - Betty Paull and Betty Barrett and is Number 53 on the list. A parcel full of goodies of 23 dresses, 1 t-shirt/pants set for a boy, 10 hair scrunchies, 35 mini bags which I intend to put inside an undie each and 2 laundry bags for delicate clothing for my stall to sell.

Some of the dresses on this parcel, if not all will be allocated to the children of Baan Jai Dee of Thailand.

To Betty and Betty, thank you so much for the goodies. Thank you for your unwavering support of dressing girls around the world. Thank you for your kindness and generosity. It is very much appreciated. Thank you.

Gifts from the Two Bettys

Usually it is me giving away dresses as gifts to the children around the world but when I met up with the two Bettys (Betty Paull and Betty Barrett) last month, little did I know that inside one of the two bags they handed over was a small package for me. Inside the parcel was an iron board cover and a small teddy bear. The teddy bear according to Betty Barrett was a gift, a thank you gift from all the children of the world to me with love. And the teddy bear is now sitting happily in my favourite spot with the rest of my favourite friends. :-)

The iron board cover was a bit of a surprise but placed a big smile on my face. I  am not really sure how Betty Barrett knew that I needed an iron board cover. Late last year I bought a fabric so I could make a new one for my iron board but never found the time to do it. I thought I really needed a new cover so decided to just drop my plan of sewing one and just buy a ready-made from the department store. The thing is I could not find the time too to go to a shop. The first time I went to a shop I saw one for sale but I didnt like the print and thought wasnt the right size. Now I do not need to make or buy as I was given a new cover by the two Bettys.

Betty and Betty, thank you so much for the gifts. Thank you for your thoughtfulness. Now that I have a new iron board cover, the fabric that I bought late last year which I dont need anymore will be made into pairs of shorts for the less fortunate boys around the world. Thank you. Much, much appreciated.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/04 #52 - From the Canungra Circle of Friends QLD

Donation #52 and the second to the last parcel received for the month of April is a parcel of 41 dresses from a group of ladies from a small village of Canungra located in the beautiful Gold Coast Hinterland between Mt Tamborine & Lamington National Park who call themselves the Canungra Circle of Friends organized by Julie Binskin. It was hand delivered by Julie's son Bryan who with his family went to visit her. Here are the 41 dresses -

made possible by Anne, Leonie, Dot, Rosie, Jeanne and Julie herself. These ladies just recently joined Dress A Girl Around the World Australia.

My heartfelt thank you to all the ladies of the circle and special thanks to Julie for organizing the group. You will be seeing more of the ladies' work in the next few months. Thank you.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/04 #51 Part 2 - Parcel 2 from the Ladies of Kapunda (Sewing Bee 13-Apr-13)

This is the second parcel from the Ladies of Kapunda S.A. from their sewing bee held on the 13th of April 2013. Two parcels filled to the brim of goodies still part of donation #51. The first parcel was posted last night.

This parcel contained 
1) 70 undies from Tania Wilson, Gaynor Bottcher, Valda Ridley, Lorraine Sandow and Kathy Pfieffer.  
2) 7 pairs of shorts from Mary Lauke and Loris Pullen
3) T-shirts from Claire Clarke and Valda Ridley
4) 2 Baby pants from Claire Clarke
5) PJ's from Deborah Parish
6) Dresses from Dianne Cain, Sally Giles, Julie Quast and Claire Clarke

I hope I didnt miss any name and if I did, please raise your hand for the necessary corrections.

Thank you so much Ladies. Everything you do is very much appreciated. Thank you !!

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/04 #51 - From the Ladies of Kapunda Sewing Bee 13-Apr-13 Parcel 1

Donation Number 51 and still for the month of April are 17 dresses, 7 pairs of shorts and 5 sleeping pants from the Ladies of Kapunda South Australia completed during their Sewing Bee last April 13.

The sleeping pants came from Loris Pullen, 5 pairs of shorts came from Shirley Bell and 2 from Mary Lauke. The following ladies donated the 17 dresses - Chris Redden, Julie Quast, Sally Giles, Mary Lauke, Shirley Bell, Claire Clark and Loris Pullen.

Thank you Ladies for all your support of dress a girl around the world. It is very much appreciated. Thank you very much.

Great News!!

Just to let everyone know of the following activities currently going on here at Dress A Girl Australia -

1) A group of volunteers from the Free to Shine charity organization will be going to Cambodia in September and will be handcarrying about 150 dresses on behalf of Dress A Girl Australia. Thank you to Nicky Mih, CEO, Free to Shine for this great opportunity.

2) Am also communicating with Save the Children charity org here in Australia for an opportunity to dress girls through them here in Australia. Fingers crossed it will happen very soon. Greatest accomplishments for 2013 and maybe more to come. Wow! Woohoo! Yippeee!!

To know more about the work of Free to Shine, please click here or visit their facebook page here.

To know more about the work of Save the Children Australia, please click here or visit their facebook page here.

Distribution Feedback from Bangkok (Mercy Centre May 2013)

Here are a couple of pictures from the dress distribution made in the Mercy Centre in Bangkok by Kate Muir of the QCCT.

My heartfelt thanks to the QCCT for their help in transporting the dresses and heaps and heaps of heartfelt thank you to Kate for finding the time to take these pictures inspite of a very tight schedule. Thank you so much all for your time and effort in helping dressed girls around the world. It is very much appreciated.

Dress Distribution #25 - For the children at the Mercy Centre, Bangkok

This time, this bag of 60 dresses and 25 hair scrunchies are to be distributed to the children at the Mercy Centre, Bangkok, another project of the Qantas Cabin Crew Team. This is the second bag kindly handcarried by the team on behalf of Dress A Girl Australia. The first bag was distributed in another project by the team in Johannesburg South Africa.

Here are the 60 dresses packed in the bag -

and 25pcs of this bunch of hair scrunchies -

made possible by the following donors -
1) Helen Shearer
2) The Wednesday Group Quilted Crow in NewTown Tasmania
3)  The Hobart Embroidery Club and others
4) Karin Maltby and group from Perth
5) Betty Paull
6) Prudence Mann
7) Monika Osvald
8) Georgia Wood
9) Suzie Pickett
10) Gaylene Hermann
11) Jo Kelly
12) Betty Barrett and Betty Paull for the hair scrunchies

For larger images of the items, please click here. For more details on the dress distribution, please click here or on the 'Dress Distribution' tab which can be found at the top of this page.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all the donors who made this distribution possible and my very heartfelt thanks to the Qantas Cabin Crew team most especially to Kate Muir for handcarrying the bag of dresses. Thank you all for your kindness and generosity and willingness to distribute the dresses on behalf of Dress A Girl Australia.

If you want to know more about the charity works of the Qantas Cabin Crew team, please click here or check out their facebook page here.

Thanks a whole lot everyone. Much appreciated.