Parcels received for Philippine collection

Thank you to the donors who has sent their parcels for the Philippine collection and picked up from the postoffice today : Toni Kirkpatrick, A Collett, C Caputo, Ispired Peel Sewers and L Brown. 

For those who sent more than what is required, please note that for every distribution I can only accommodate 5 per donor so if you sent me 100 dresses then it will take some time to distribute this due to funding issues and the rule on dress quality strictly applies. Donation acknowledgements will also be 5 dresses at a time. Thank you for your understanding.

Feedback Distribution - More images from The Hope Project Distribution - Dec 2014/Jan 2015

Here are latest pictures sent in by Barbara Dodson who is coordinating the "The Hope Project" on my behalf in Victoria. These pictures were taken in the mountains of Burma, village of Kaaptee from distribution made in Dec 2014/Jan 2015 by Tawng one of AMES community guides in Melbourne. His brother lives in Chin State and was here visiting last December. He works in an orphanage and these are the dresses he brought back with him from the Hope Project -

To see larger and individual images, please click here.

Thank you so much to Barbara Dodson who has been such a big help coordinating the Hope Project on my behalf  from the state of Victoria and to the donors and sewers of the dresses who made this distribution possible.

Project Cabaraban Phils still open

Dress A Girl Australia is not officially opened yet for the year 2015 but doing a special dress collection as an opportunity has come up for distribution in the Philippines in March. All dress donations should be in my postbox on or before Tuesday, the 10th of March to give me ample time to sort, pack and send on the 15th. 

To give everyone an opportunity to make a difference, a max of 5 dresses per donor only is required and if making a donation, please make a comment on this posting (if you have only read this callout today) or send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com so I can log your contribution and update my count. Thank you.
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Please send parcels to Dress A Girl Australia P.O. Box 240 Casula Mall Casula NSW 2170.
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Dress Distribution #89 - 03/2015 - Project Burma 2015 Collection #1 - c-o Barbara Dodson

This batch of dresses and t-shirts/shorts sets will be sent to Barbara Dodson in Victoria to be included in the distribution to be made in the remote village of Chin in Burma. Dresses by other donors will be posted directly to Barbara to avoid delays as the volunteer who will be handcarrying the clothes leaves for Burma on the 16th of March. 
Here is the parcel from Dress A Girl Australia -

and here are the contents of the parcel -

made possible by the following sponsoring donors -
1) Suzanne Marshall
2) Lucy Maandig
3) Sarah Hicks

Other donors who will be sending their contributions directly to Barbara are -
1) Patricia Burton 
2) Lynne Stupple
3) Elaine Klein 
4) Christine Caputo
5) Frances Cornish 
6) Ron Perrin 
7) Sharyn Cafee 

for a total of 49 dresses and 9 pairs of shorts and t-shirts. Please click here to check out individual images of the contents of the parcel. Images of items by other donors will be included in this album if and when available.

Thank you so much to the donors for making this first distribution in Burma for the year 2015 possible. Much appreciated.

Project Burma 2015 Collection #1 is now officially closed!

This is to confirm that the dress collection for Project Burma is now officially closed. I am no longer accepting dresses for this project. Thank you.

Sponsor a Dress and help with our Burma and Philippines collection.

Anyone who wants to help disadvantaged kids in Burma and the Philippines and who would like to make a difference by dressing a less fortunate girl or providing a pair of shorts/t-shirt to a disadvantaged boy, you can help with our urgent collection for March distribution by sponsoring a dress or a t-shirt/shorts set for $10.00. With your donation of $10.00, you not only provide clothing but also give hope and a better future by providing clean water to the people of Kalagi Uganda. Click on the link below for more details and if you want to proceed with sponsorship
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Dress for a 6-year old -
http://www.dressagirlaustralia.com.au/dress---6-year-olds.h…
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T-shirt/short set for a boy -
http://www.dressagirlaustralia.com.au/boys-clothes.html
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Dress with sleeves -
http://www.dressagirlaustralia.com.au/dress---with-sleeves.html
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Hurry before the collection ends by the 10th of March for the Philippines and 12th of March for Burma.
Be like me. Just an average but normal person, still feeling dizzy from a trip and has lots of catching up to do but cannot say no to an opportunity to make a difference.....help people make a difference. Sponsor a dress. Thank you.

Urgent Collection of Dresses for Burma - Due 12th of March 2015

Good Day everyone! Not wanting to miss any opportunity to make a difference and help everyone make a difference (inspite of a very tight personal schedule) I am starting again today a new urgent collection for Burma. This is even tighter than the Philippine collection as the person who is going to handcarry these items will be leaving for Burma on the 16th of March but will try to collect as many as I can. Am trying to raise 50 outfits either for boys and girls between the ages of 5 and 15. If anyone is willing to contribute, please send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com or go to my facebook page and make a comment so we would know who are sending and please send your items directly to the address below to avoid delays -

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BARBARA DODSON
54-56 David Rd LILYDALE
Vic. 3140

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Please click here to access Dress A Girl Australia's facebook page.

All parcels should be with Barbara by the 12th of March to give her enough time to sort, pack and handover to the volunteer. Again, timing is of utmost importance. Any questions, please leave messages or make comments here to save time and I can easily respond. Thank you so much.

More Feedback from Distributions made in Mt Hagen PNG

Here are a few more images taken from distributions made in Mt Hagen Papua New Guinea to the boys and girls of the BFO Orphanage getting ready for school in their new Khaki pants for the boys and dresses for the girls.

And here is Aunty Rosa's email of gratitude for the donations. She takes care of all these orphans.

To see a larger and more readable version of the email, please click here. To see individual images of the distributions, please click here.

Thank you to all the donors who made these distributions possible.

Urgent Dress Collection and Distribution for the Philippines

Good Day everyone! I just arrived and have a lot of catching up to do but for those who would like to contribute dresses, starting today I am opening up an urgent special collection and distribution to be made in the Philippines. All dresses to be donated of 5 per donor must be in my postbox on or before 10-Mar-2015 so I will have time to sort and pack. Parcel needs to be sent by the 15-Mar-2015 as it takes a week to send a parcel and dresses have to be distributed before the end of March. If you are donating, could you please respond to this message by sending an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com so I will have an idea as to how many I will be receiving? The reason for the tight schedule is that the lady who will be distributing the dresses will only be in the Phils for two weeks and has to go back to the US by the end of March so timing is of utmost importance. Size preference is between size 6 to 10. Thank you so much.
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Please send dresses to Dress A Girl Australia P.O. Box 240 Casula Mall Casula NSW 2170
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Please contact me soonest!

A lady who teaches Textiles sent me a follow-up email to a discussion we had late last year about introducing sewing in schools. If you can read this message, can you please re-send me your email to refresh my memory or just send me an email so I will know your email address and I can try to recover your emails. I erroneously deleted all received emails in my Dress A Girl Australia mailbox last week thinking it has been copied over as it was starting to get full and am trying to reconstruct (if I can) all the emails that were in the inbox. Thank you.

Updates on Parcels

Before I left for the USA two weeks ago I sent enquiries to Australia Post about parcels that I have sent which I wanted to know whether they have arrived their destinations or not and have been delivered. Thought I would share with you the feedbacks that I received regarding my enquiries -
1) For the parcel I sent to India on the 16-Dec-2014, it has been received on the 26-Dec-2014 :

2) For the two parcels I sent to Romania on th 5-Nov-2014, it has been received on the 13-Jan-2015:

3) For the parcel I sent to Papua New Guinea on the 7-Jan-2015, it has been received on the 20-Jan-2015

When I get the chance I will try to contact the recipients and provide them with these information to make sure that they did get the parcels. 

I would like to extend my thanks to Australia Post for patiently tracking down these parcels. Thank you. Much appreciated.

Random acts of Kindness this week

This week is Random Act of Kindness week. Share the love and compassion this week with the less fortunate kids around the world by sponsoring a dress or boys clothes...for a price of a cup of coffee...for $10.00....make them smile...make the whole world smile...make this world a smiley and better place to live for everyone. 

To sponsor a dress, please click here and check out choices available. Thank you.

Journals for the Angels for the Forgotten Organization

Still on my "summer" garage cleaning , I decided to donate more than a dozen of fabric-covered journals and a few travel journals to the Angels for the Forgotten Organization who is in urgent need of these items for their mental health packs. I think they are better off with these kids who really need them instead of being in a box collecting dust. And I can free up the space the box occupies in my garage...although not that big a space.       feeling amused.inspired and happy.
These items I made at a time when I made sure that all my journals, books, notebooks, binders, diaries I used were covered with fabrics just to be able to sew. Even the log journal I used to log my kilometres was covered. I sold quite a few of them at that time but with the digital notebooks and pens now available I kind of stopped using them. Sometimes when a friend celebrates a birthday I would wrap one to give as a present. Well, last night I placed all of them in a box and sent them via Australia Post to the Angels for the Forgotten. 

I think I have more to send to them like inspirational cards but am running out of time as I need to finish my packing so will do it next time.

If you are looking for other ways to make a difference and sponsoring dresses are not your cup of tea, check out the Angels for the Forgotten website. They need quite a few items that may attract your eye.

Feedback on Parcel sent for Kijji Mission Molo Kenya

The parcel I sent to Jennifer Hughes-Bystrom in QLD for the kids of the Kijji Mission in Molo Kenya has been received. Sharing with you a message of thanks from Jennifer. — feeling grateful.

To see a larger and more readable version of the letter above, please click here. 

Thank you to all the donors who made this distribution possible. Much appreciated.

Dress Distribution #87-02/2015 - For an orphanage in Mexico

One of the many parcels I will be handcarrying myself this year 2015 to distribute to different locations around the world. This first parcel of 10 dresses with an undie and a mini teddy bear for each dress and sponsored by  Suzanne Marshall is allocated and going to be distributed/given to an orphanage in Mexico c-o Ellen Occena, a classmate of mine who lives there. I will be meeting up with Ellen in California next week and will hand deliver to her this package - squeezed as much as I can to make the parcel small enough to fit my small bag - 

and these are the contents of the parcel -

My heartfelt thanks to Suzanne for these 10 dresses and for making my dream of providing clean water and give hope to the people of Kalagi Uganda soon to be a reality and to Ellen for handcarrying this parcel back to Mexico with her to hand deliver/give to her chosen orphanage. Thank you so much.

Make a difference by sponsoring a dress

As of today I have raised $4.015.00 out of the $10,500 I need to build a well for the people of Kalagi Uganda. That means that as of today I would still need to sew at least 500 more dresses and/or boys clothes to be sponsored to reach my goal... provide hope through safe water to 700 children and 300 adults including the people from five surrounding villages, four schools and five churches. If you want to help make a difference to the lives of these people, please sponsor a dress. For $10.00 and perhaps the price of at least 3 cups of coffee, you get to provide a dress to a child in need and make the dream of drinking clean water become a reality for the community of Kalagi Uganda. 

In saying this, starting today, Charity Drive #9 starts to raise $5,000.00 by perhaps sewing 500 dresses for sponsorship, more ebay listings, selling plants from my garden or whatever I can think of. Not sure how long it will take to complete this drive but with your help in spreading the word around I hope it will be soon. Sponsored dresses will have priority on distributions over dresses donated. Thank you.

To sponsor a dress, please click on the link below -

Donation Acknowledgement #5/2015 - School Supplies from Monika

A big thank you to Monika Osvald for sending in these packs and packs of school supplies for Dress A Girl Australia's Education without Borders project and the 4 heavy duty school bags. I just have the right location for these school bags.

Again, thank you Monika. These packs will surely be a great help to deserving school kids.

If education is your cup of tea in making this world a better place, please think about my "Education without Borders" project. Please feel free to send in your donations to Dress A Girl Australia P.O. Box 240 Casula Mall Casula NSW 2170

Buyers from my ebay listing FYI

To the buyers of my ebay listings(under 'leisurestuff'), I have your donation receipt from the proceeds of your purchase which I have fully donated to the Dress A Girl Australia Well campaign to provide clean water to the people of Kalagi Uganda. Am sure I missed sending it to a few. Please contact me by sending me a message here or email me at dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com if you want to get a copy of it. Thank you.

Want to do something different in your life today????

For a price of a cup of coffee for the next 3 days....Check out my Dress Sponsorship Program through the links below. I have another location to send sponsored dresses to when I come back from my trip at the end of this month. Please help make a difference to the lives of the less fortunate by giving them new clothes or give hope through clean water. Thank you.

Dress for a 6-year old - http://www.dressagirlaustralia.com.au/dress---6-year-olds.html
T-shirt dress - http://www.dressagirlaustralia.com.au/dress---with-sleeves.html
Boys clothes - http://www.dressagirlaustralia.com.au/boys-clothes.html
Dress for a school-aged girl with school starter kit -http://www.dressagirlaustralia.com.au/dress-for-a-school-aged-girl.html

Imagine what a cup of coffee can do to make this world a better place!!

*** My heartfelt thank you to those who have sponsored dresses so far including those who buy from my ebay listings. Your support is helping make the building of a well to provide clean water in Kalagi Uganda becoming more visible in the near future and at the same time making kiddies around the world happy with their new clothes so thank you so much. . ****

Anyone wants to sponsor any of these two boys clothes? Share the love this Valentines Day!

***** No longer available. Taken by two February Birthday celebrants who wants to do something different.....something awesome......in celebrating their special day!!!! Thank you. ******

Hi there, Anyone interested to sponsor these two boys clothes for $10.00 per pack? 

Pack includes a size 5-6 pair of shorts, t-shirt and undie? I have a space good for these 2 to be included in my parcel to Peru but please let me know by Friday, 6th of Feb as I need to close/seal my parcel by this Friday night so I can deliver it to the lady who will be handcarrying these items on the weekend. Sponsorship of these sets will be donated to the Dress A Girl Australia's campaign to build a well for the people of Kalagi Uganda. You will be given a donation receipt for your sponsorship. Boys clothes for two less fortunate boys and a donation for a well....that is hitting two birds with one stone...a great way to make a difference and share the love this Valentines day. Please let me know soon. Thank you.

Their journeys have started.....

Thanks heaps to Wendy Durran's daughter, Courtney for stopping by the house and picking up the bag of dresses to bring with her to Bali. Much appreciated.

WooHoo! Two down (Molo Kenya and Bali) and one to go....keeping fingers crossed for Peru.

Twelve dresses completed possibly for Peru

I finished the 10 dresses I sew over the weekend which were missing bias tapes and did two dresses tonight from my personal fabric collection. These 12 dresses I intend to send to Peru through a friend if I can make her agree to handcarry them in addition to 12 sponsored school-aged dresses with school starter kits and 3 sponsored t-shirts/pair of shorts for boys. 
Here are the 10 dresses using fabrics donated by Millhouse Collections -

and the two dresses I made from my collection -

The first thing I will do tomorrow morning is to weigh and get the total weight of all the items and contact my friend and see if she agrees. Fingers crossed she will agree.

For everyone's info

Hello everyone! Just a reminder that I am still not accepting dress donations as I am still on a break. The distributions I am posting here are unscheduled ones. Restart of collections will be published here and in my facebook page but just also want to remind anyone who wants to donate that there will be a maximum number of donations I will be accepting per donor for every distribution and strictly implemented to avoid financial stress. There are no big financial donors and/or sponsors of this charity work contrary to what other people think. This is self-funded and survives with the proceeds from the things that I sell from my on-line shops and ebay listings of unwanted items from my garage and with the help of a few very generous donors which I am very thankful for. Anyone who wants to donate more than what is the maximum, your donations will be accepted but this time I will require that you donate and help towards the cost of sending the extra dresses being donated. Thank you for your understanding.

Dress Distribution #85-02/2015 - For Kiddies of a Bali Orphanage (c-o Wendy Durran)

Fingers cross, this parcel will be picked up by Wendy Durran's daughter on Wednesday, 4th of February to be handcarried and delivered to a Bali Orphanage. It is a parcel of 12 dresses and undies and mini doll toys.
Here is the parcel -

and here are the contents of the parcel -

made possible by the Dress Sponsorships of Suzanne Marshall, fabric materials donated by Millhouse Collections and sewn by Dress A Girl Australia and mini toys by Dress A Girl Australia as part of the Dress Sponsorship Kits.

For larger and individual images of the contents of this parcel, please click here.

My heartfelt thanks to Suzanne Marshall for sponsoring these dresses and at the same time helping raise funds for the Dress A Girl Australia well to provide clean water and give hope to the people of Kalagi Uganda and Millhouse Collections for the fabric materials. Thank you. It is much appreciated.

Dress Distribution #83-03/2015 - For Kijji Mission Molo Kenya

First distribution for the year 2015 are for a few kids being supported by the Kijji Mission in Molo Kenya. This 6kg-parcel will be posted to Jennifer Hughes-Bystrom who is currently in Queensland at this time and will handcarry these items when she goes back to Molo Kenya in mid-March.
Here is the parcel -

and here are the contents of the parcel -

made possible by the following donors -

1) Suzanne Marshall

2) Millhouse Collections

3) Sharyn Cafee

4) Christine Caputo

5) Lucienne Magnay

6) Lyn Granger

7) Karen Nielsen

8) Lynne Stupple

9) Richelle Brilliant

10) Elaine Klein

11) Dress A Girl Australia

For larger and individual images of the contents of the parcel, please click here.

Thank you to all the donors who made this distribution possible. It is much appreciated. 

Dress Sizes for 2015 - For everyone's info

Hi everyone, to those who are planning to make a dress this year, my focus of distribution will be for girls between the ages of 6 to 12 and so sizes should be between 7 to 14. One size bigger will allow the child to wear the dress especially if they are of good quality (following the basic rules of sewing) for a longer period of time. Small dresses between 0 and 5 will be a low priority. For the past 3 years I have observed that it is really kids between the ages of 6 to 12 who are in great need of dresses. Infants/toddlers or up to age 5, they can normally wear hand me downs but who is going to do a hand-me-down dress to those between the ages of 6 to 12 if there is nothing to hand-down. For everyone's info. Thank you.

Ten more dresses waiting for allocation

Went for a 2-hr nap this afternoon, woke up and started sewing and ended up with these 10 dresses now waiting for bias tapes. Happy that I now have another 10 waiting to be allocated for distribution. Fabric materials donated by Millhouse Collections. Another 10 tomorrow for sponsorships would be great before I leave for my trip. — feeling happy.