Not forgotten

This group helped my aunt in the distribution of the Christmas Bags last December in CDO Philippines. Just like in a making of the movie where without the cameraman and other assistants the movie would not have been made possible, this group were the people behind the scenes. They carried the 8 boxes and helped assemble the kids even when it was raining. In return and in appreciation of what they had done on behalf of Dress A Girl Australia, I gave them these small gifts of new sandals and pairs of rubber shoes. And I did generate happy faces when they saw it fitted them perfectly. Was a good guess on the sizes.

Thank you!!!

Only Dresses for Hope Project - Burma

Just a reminder to everyone that the dresses I will be accepting as donations between now and September are dresses for the Hope Project - Burma. Am requesting that no other dresses be sent at this time unless they are for the Hope Project - Burma.

Thank you.

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It is nice to be able to walk around my small house knowing that small hallways are free of plastic bags filled with dresses. It is nice to look at things you have made hanging on a wall in an empty room without any plastic bags covering the beauty of the thing. It is great to have a space in a small room big enough for me to enjoy being creative. It is nice to feel safe walking around the garage knowing that you will not stumble in any boxes/parcels filled with dresses. And this is the reason why I am trying to be more organized asking for dress donations to be sent only when am ready to send them. I know these donations makes a lot of difference to the lives of the disadvantaged but it also makes a lot of difference feeling safe, comfort and joy in your own home. Thank you for your understanding.
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Capped/Sleeved Dresses needed by Sept 15

Barbara Dodson who is a campaigner of Dress A Girl (Around the World) Australia has managed to connect “Dress a girl around the world” with the Hope Project run by Croydon Hills Baptist Church who looks after Karen refugees locally which then led them to help  look after refugees on the Thai-Burma border and also Internally Displaced People in Burma. IDP's are groups of people isolated by military within their own country borders and miss out on most of the help offered to recognised refugee camps. 

Barbara has graciously volunteered to   co-ordinate the supplying of dresses for girls and shorts for boys within this area. At this time we are not sure how many but it could be in the hundreds. There will be someone going to Burma in early October who can take the first delivery, and then a group shall be going in December, to take the second and larger delivery. She is really quite excited about this project, and would love to share it with like minded friends. And this is where we all come in ladies especially to those who would like to sew dresses for this very worthy cause. We barely have about 8 weeks to go before the first delivery is due. The items need to be sent to Croydon by mid-September or at least before the end of September month.

I have committed to sending at least 100 capped dresses for the first delivery. This will be in addition to the dresses that will be made by Barbara and her group from sewing bees. Capped dresses because this is Burma where culture requires that shoulders should be covered and also dresses already with sleeves will eliminate the need to provide t-shirts to wear underneath. Since we do not know who the recipients will be the dresses should be in different sizes perhaps between 6 to 18.

If there is anyone out there who is willing to sew and donate, it will be very much appreciated. Please use cotton materials to make the dresses last longer. No flimsy or thin materials please. This dress could be the only decent dress some of them would get to wear. Anyone is also encouraged to donate pairs of shorts or t-shirts. Dress and shorts patterns for those who want to sew are readily available in pdf formats upon request. Fabric donations are also very much welcome as sewers have been organized to help in making this project a success.

At this time unless departure date will change, all dresses should be posted to Dress A Girl Australia postal address on or before Sep 15 so I will have more time to sort and packed. I have made this project an exception from my previous request that no parcels should be sent at this time. Priority will be given to these parcel donations.

Please indicate your willingness to make a difference to the lives of the Karen refugees by sending me a message or an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com letting me know what you are donating and quantity if possible so I will have an idea as to where we stand in my commitment. Rest be assured that I will not be just sitting down waiting for parcels to arrive. In fact, I have started gathering fabrics today and will start sewing when my market day is finished in less than 2 weeks. Thank you so much in advance for your support and help on this project. For any questions or more information, as usual please send a message or an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com.

For more information on the Karen Support services, please click here. For more information on the Hope Project, please click here.

Goal for India

The outlook is very bright for India. I only need 51 dresses more and by the time I have sent all the remaining 4 parcels for Christmas I would have met my 2014 target of 500 dresses to India orphanages. And I thought the task was/is not possible considering the cost of sending those dresses.

The latest feedback I received based on questions I asked of one orphanage so far - (I like and enjoy making followups of my efforts) -

(1) how the dresses are with the children? Yes, Dresses are so beautiful and Wonderful and many Girls asking the Dresses at villages and slums. 
(2) Are they liking and enjoying wearing the dresses? Yes, Very liking and very enjoying by wearing everyday and feeling good and handsome. But the problem is Girls who received one dress and they are asking one more dress.

I hope I get to receive at least a picture or 2 in the next few weeks....but well done!!

Dress Donations

Dates will be published in the next few weeks when Dress A Girl Australia will start accepting new dress donations.

Sharing conversation with a friend I made in Peru

I met this lady in Peru who came to meet me at the hotel we were staying at to receive the dresses I brought along with me to share with the children of Peru. I thought I would share with anyone who would be interested to know our conversation which I sent via facebook message when I arrived here in Sydney as due to time constraints I did not have the chance to get in touch with her again. She will always have a special spot in my heart for without her the opportunity to provide dresses to a few children in Peru would not have been possible and to those who donated some of the dresses I hope you would find it in your hearts to say a silent thank you to her for giving you the opportunity to share the dresses you made in such a very far away country.

Thank you so much Julia and I hope I would be able to provide more dresses for you in the future. Thank you.

Feedback from Parcels sent to Morningstar Foundation, South Africa

Here is an email I received last July 17 from Joan Adams of Morningstar Foundation regarding the Winter Collection boxes I sent for the children of the Morningstar Orphanage -

For a larger and more readable version of this email, please click here.

Back in Sydney but Dress A Girl Australia Activities still not operational

Good Morning everyone. Although I am back in Sydney, my priority at the moment is my full recovery, get up to date to all the personal and family matters that have been left behind and needs to be attended to. Dress A Girl Australia will be at the end of the list especially that this is just a volunteer work. There will still be no parcel pickups until I am ready to do so SO would like to request that no parcels be sent. There is no need to hurry as the distributions will not happen until late in the year. Dates of distributions will be released in the next few weeks. There are still lots of things to be done before distributions can occur. Emails will be responded to in due time and only nice and respectful emails. Remember I survived the Inca Trail Hike. Thank you for your understanding.

Next schedule of dress distributions will be at the end of the year. Exact dates to be posted in early October. No parcel pickups between Jul 1 - Aug 8.

No metallic or breakable items will be accepted

Just a reminder to those who donate dresses not to include anything that is metallic as security screening is very rigid and strict again these days. If you want to include a headband make sure that they are made of fabric and not metal. Any kind of metallic items or breakable items like plastic headbands that I receive will not be included in any of the distributions. 

Please be guided with this latest information. Thank you.

Dress Distribution #71 - Dresses and Shorts for the children of Peru

This is the distribution which I am so ecstatic about. 42 dresses and 10 pairs of shorts for the children of Peru which I will be handcarrying and handing over to the group on Wednesday that Taylor Benson of the Pottershand foundation works and partners with in Peru. He and the group are scheduled to go to the Amazon jungle to visit their feeding programs with the children of the Ashaninka people out there and will be happy to include in their distribution the dresses I will be giving to them. As of this writing I only have packed 42 dresses and 10 pairs of shorts but depending on what the final weight of my check-in luggage would be by tomorrow as I am limited to about 30 kilos, I may add more. So here are the dresses and boys shorts I am taking with me to Peru -

made possible by the following donors -
1) Two Bettys Betty Barrett and Betty Paull
2) Bett Holmes
3) Sharyn Paull
4) Monika Osvald
5) Vanya Bryant
6) Jo Holt
7) Dress A Girl Australia

To see larger images of the contents of this parcel, please click here. For more details on this distribution (and also at a later stage when feedback is received).please click here or click on the special 'Dress Distribution' tab which you can find at the top of this page.

Thank you so much to all the donors who made this parcel possible. Your kindness and generosity is very much appreciated. And a wholehearted thank you to Taylor Benson and his group/partners for giving me the opportunity to share dresses with the children of Peru specifically in the Amazon jungle. Thank you for giving me this once in a lifetime opportunity to make a difference to the lives of the disadvantaged children in Peru. Thank you so much.

No Parcel picks in July until the 8th of August, 2014

I am still getting emails letting me know that they will be posting dresses next week. Please do not send any parcels starting Monday, 30th of June. Your last day of posting should be this Friday, 27th. I will not be responsible for any parcels that will be posted between June 30-August 4 nor will I take on the tasks of enquiring the status/whereabouts of parcels posted between these dates. Please be guided by this information. Thank you.

Donation Acknowledgement FY14/#88 - From Judy and the Inspired Peel Sewers

First acknowledgement for the month of July is Donation #88 from the Inspired Peel Sewers. This group was organized and coordinated by Judy Scott. It is a parcel of 17 dresses and 14 pairs of boys shorts -

To the members of the Inspired Peel Sewers, thank you for your kindness and generosity and to Judy, the Neighbourhood Group Coordinator for organizing this activity. Thank you so much.

Donation Acknowledgement FY14/#87 - From Lorraine and group

A parcel of 68 dresses and donation #87  is from a group of ladies from Inverell organized by Lorraine Brown. They belong to a craft group which is a haven for women and they do lots of projects such as sewing and knitting to make a difference. Here are the dresses that they sent -

and here are the members of the group.

This picture and their work was featured and published in the Inverell Times dated the 28th of February. A very interesting article on what they do and why they do it. Click on the link below to read the full article -

Crafts group a haven for women

To Lorraine and the rest of the members of the group (Ann O'Brien, Tanya Townsend, Tess Wardle and Di Tome),thank you so much for making Dress A Girl (Around the World) your project for the month. I hope the ladies who read your article will be inspired to do the same...making a difference. Thank you for your kindness and generosity. It is much appreciated.

School Supplies #4 - From Maureen, Pat and Gaylene

This is the fourth donation acknowledgement of school supplies I am collecting for a campaign I just thought of a new name tonight - Education without borders. The school supplies and the fabric bags for the school starter kits came from Maureen O'Brien, Pat Burton and Gaylene Herrmann. A collection of 41 school starter bags, 6 exercise books and packs of pens, pencils and crayons

Thank you so much Ladies for your kindness and generosity. Your unwavering support not only with dresses  but with school supplies as well is very much appreciated. Thank you.

Donation Acknowledgement FY14/#84 to #86 - From the two Bettys, Maureen and Lyn

Three more parcels for the month of June came from the two Bettys - Betty Barrett and Betty Paull, Lyn Granger and Maureen O'Brien. A mix donations of dresses, pairs of shorts, bags for school starter kits and school supplies. The bags and school supplies will be acknowledged separately.

1) Donation #84 is from the two Bettys - Betty Barrett and Betty Paull, It is a parcel of 11 dresses and 6 pairs of boys shorts - 

2) Donation #85 is from Maureen O'Brien - 6 boys t-shirts which is going to help me build up another  collection of t-shirts for boys - 

3) And donation #86 is from Lynette Granger - a parcel of 12 dresses, a baby set of clothes, 9 pairs of shorts, a girls' blouse which I paired with one of the shorts I received and a small fabric shoulder bag. One lucky girl is going to get a new set of clothes with a small shoulder bag with this parcel -

Again, my wholehearted thank you Ladies for the dress donations, t-shirts and shorts. Your kindness and generosity is very much appreciated. Thank you.

Donation Acknowledgement FY14/#81 to #83 - From Pat, Gaylene, Vanya & Friends

I have six more parcels to acknowledge before I closed off the month of June donations. First 3 parcels are from Pat Burton, Gaylene Herrmann and Vanya Bryant and her friends June and Val.

1) Parcel 1 and Donation #81 are 4 dresses from Pat Burton. Included in the parcel are 6 school bags which will be acknowledged separately -

2) Parcel 2 and Donation #82 are 11 dresses, hair ties and 4 soft cuties from Vanya Bryant and her friends June and Val when they had their sewing day and had great fun making the dresses.

3) Parcel #3 and Donation #83 are 9 dresses and 25 school bags from Gaylene Herrmann. The bags will be acknowledged separately.

Thank you so much Ladies for your dress donations and other accessories. Thank you all for your kindness and generosity. You make this world a better place for everyone especially for the disadvantaged kiddies around the world. Thank you.

Fundraising through Wines

After days of brainstorming(with myself) I am launching a fundraising campaign that will greatly help in the cost of sending parcels to different locations around the world especially at Christmas time. Unfortunately my handmade selling is suffering, cannot cope with the demands as most of my time is spent on organizing, making followups, taking parcels to the postoffice to send, finding ways to raise money to pay for postage, making sure customs requirements are met to save money on duties etc I spend less and less time making things to sell.

So starting today, 1st of July, I will be selling wines or fundraising through wines. I have made special arrangements with a supplier who will deliver the wines directly to you for a low postage fee. I have passed on higher discounts to attract more buyers. More details will be posted in the next few days and the order form. Only bank deposit or paypal payments will be accepted. If you are not into wines, your help to spread the word will be highly appreciated. If you think I dont have to raise funds to help, then you dont have to do anything. But for others your help in spreading the word will be greatly appreciated. All money earned from the selling will go directly to the postage fund of Dress A Girl Australia. Thank you.