Coming Soon!!

So many things to do ....so little time. Coming up soon -
1) "i-wear" because "i-care".
2) Charity drive for size 2-4 dresses to fill up my half-filled box. I probably would need only about 100 more. Details coming up soon once I have confirmed how many more I would need.

Due to the number of interests I have received on this size 2 to 4 drive, I will be putting up a maximum number of dresses that each individual can donate and this will be confirmed once I know how many more I would need to fill up the box. Also, I want the dresses that I sew to go into the box as well.

Thank you.

Feedback on the Arts & Craft Supplies for the Indi Kindi Collection

Here is a photo I received today re shipment ready to be sent to the kids of Borroloola in the Northern Territory.

Somewhere inside one or several of these crates are the donations of arts supplies I received from Carolyn Walker, Ladies of the Willow Branch QCWA, Threading My Way, Dawn Manser, Pam Baber, Myf McFarlane, Karina Tomlinson, Mo O'Brien and Monika Osvald. 

Thank you so much Ladies for your contributions thus making this shipment possible.

FY14 Charity Drive - Arts & Craft & School Supplies Donation #6 - Diecuts from Carolyn

Love it when it is for the children and more when the outcome benefits the children. A bunch of diecuts from Carolyn Walker who used to work as a Creative Memories Consultant. She wrote me an email asking if they can be of use since I do collect arts and school supplies which I give away to schools in need. These diecuts are in different shapes cut from card stock and are about 4" in size. Stars, trees, birthday cakes, balloons and others.

These diecuts will be in very good hands as it will be donated to the School for Life Foundation in Uganda through Annabelle Chauncy the founding director of the school. The kids could even use it to make special packs of greeting cards which they can sell as a fundraiser for the school. Will be sending these packs next week when I get the chance to pack them up together with a bunch of exercise books.

Thank you to Carolyn for making this donation possible to the School for Life Foundation. Much appreciated.

FY14 Charity Drive - Arts & Craft & School Supplies Donation #5 - From the Ladies of QCWA Willows Branch

This is Donation #5 and the last of the arts & craft supplies for the Indi Kindi project. This parcel was donated by the Ladies of QCWA Willows Branch and sent in by their president Jacqui Piper. 

To all the ladies of QCWA Willows Branch, thank you for the great pack and special thanks to Jacquie for sending the items. Your kindness and generosity is very much appreciated. Thank you.

FY14 Charity Drive - Arts & Craft & School Supplies Donation #4

These Indi Kindi kids are going to have the time of their lives drawing and colouring or learning new skills even with just the box of supplies I have collected for them. On Monday I am going to be bringing with me my bag full of crayons, pencils, sharpeners and rulers, art papers and picture books. If only I can spare the time I have 3 panels left of the very old Teacher's Pets - A learning book I can make them into clothbooks for them.  It is intended primarily for children aged 2-6 and will help to teach them basic skills and concepts such as counting, alphabet, comparatives, shapes and colors and is filled with adorable animals and useful information. Maybe I will just do that one of these nights.

Anyway, here is another box full of arts and craft supplies, school supplies, play and learn books from Carolyn Walker, Karina Tomlinson, Pam of Threading my Way's mum and Dawn Manser, Pam Baber and Myf Macfarlane of Swan Hill Victoria. I've also put in another 3 sets of the big sized colouring pencils. These big sized pencils are supposed to teach you how to hold a pencil properly and write clearly. Maybe its true...maybe not but am sure whoever gets to hold one will have a fun-full of drawing and writing day.

Again, a wholehearted thank you Ladies for your kindness and generosity. With your contributions, you are making a difference to the lives of these children, helping break the cycle of Indigenous destitution through the Indi Kindi campaign of the Nangala project.

For more details and/or information of the Nangala Project's Indi Kindi campaign, please click here.

And here is the almost 4-kilo bag full of educational materials I will be handcarrying to work on Monday and another one on Tuesday - in addition to my normal work-day bag . The weight will be interesting....but anything to make kids happy.  :-)

FY14 South Africa Winter Appeal 2014 Batch 3 of 4 sets from Sarah, Jamie, Virginia and Karina

Another batch of 4 sets for the South Africa Winter appeal and also more pairs of socks and winter singlets to keep more children warm from Sarah Macraild, Jamie Gwiazda, Virginia Banks and Karina Tomlinson. These 4 sets brings my total to 12 as of today.

To Sarah, Karina, Jamie and Virginia, a wholehearted thank you for your kindness and generosity. Thank you for supporting this Winter Appeal program. It is very much appreciated. Thank you!

FY14 Charity Drive - Arts & School Supplies #3 - From karina and Dress A Girl Australia

Every Monday I always carry with me to work something for Dress  A Girl Australia. It can be bundles of envelopes containing dress labels to post at lunchtime and the past two Mondays since I started collecting arts and school supplies, a bag full of supplies to fill up my collection box at work. I have to bring them to work as it is where the collections are being picked up including those donated by colleagues. 

This morning, I brought with me a bag full of supplies from Karina Tomlinson and from me a few more items of school supplies and colouring books. I had a delightful time buying the books as they cost twenty-five cents each. I wish I could see the kids enjoying every minute of learning, drawing and colouring without any limitation.

To Karina, thank you so much for the supplies. With this bundle, the possibilities for creativity becomes endless for these less fortunate children. Thank you for your kindness and generosity. It is so much appreciated.

Parcels for South Africa

To the ladies who submitted their intention to donate to the winter appeal for South Africa, due to an unforeseen circumstances, i am now moving forward parcels i am sending to South Africa at the end of March (if possible). So if you still want to proceed with your contribution, please send the items to me asap so i can prep them up and include in the boxes. If i do not get my target of winter sets, i will still send the parcels as soon as i can.

Postal address is Dress A Girl Australia, P.O. Box 240 Casula Mall Casula NSW 2170.

My apologies for such a short notice. Thank you.

FY14 Charity Drive - Arts & School Supplies #2 - From Monika and Dress A Girl Australia

Second batch of art supplies for the Indi_Kindi project which I am collecting is from Monika Osvald for the kids of Borroloola, NT to enjoy. 

Also, this year I am saving up for a lot of school supplies such as exercise books and pens which I will distribute mid of this year to selected schools around Asia. Since I cannot afford to sponsor a child on a monthly basis to go to school, I thought providing school supplies every now and then will be good enough to compensate for it. Last week after checking out my fly buy points and found out that I had accumulated points enough to buy $10.00 worth of school supplies, I bought exercise books and pens which were on its final days of sale. I was able to buy 32 exercise books and 5 packs of pens which had 10 pens on each pack. Quite a good value for money which I saved up from grocery shopping. And also I received 2 packs of rulers and 2 sharpeners from Monika. Here are the items that is now starting to fill up my school supplies' box -

To Monika, thank you for the rulers and sharpeners. It is much appreciated.

Donation Acknowledgement FY14/#1 - From Monika

This is the start of acknowledging donations for the year 2014 and am starting with parcels that I think have contributions to the winter appeal and art supplies for the Indi_Kindi project. First on the list is a parcel of 13 dresses, soft toys, socks and undies from Monika Osvald. Here are the contents of the first parcel of dresses for the year - a bit tired now at this time but I hope I get this right.

The soft toys, 4 pairs of shorts and 5 sets of t-shirts/shorts will be allocated to the children of the hinterland areas of CDO Phils for Easter distribution. The 13 dresses will be allocated later in the year to targeted locations for distributions this year by Dress A Girl Australia.

To Monika, thank you for your consistent support of Australia's Dress A Girl Around the World campaign and other charity drives it organizes. It is very much appreciated. Thank you.

FY14 Charity Drive - Arts & School Supplies #1 - From Mo and Dress A Girl Australia

Am starting to open parcels especially if I know the parcels contain items for the South Africa Winter Appeal and the Indi_Kindi project. First on the list are a bunch of colouring pencils from Mo O'Brien. And while looking for something to dispose in my garage a few months ago I found a bunch of notepads and a packet of Crayola Brush Tips which I decided to keep as they might come in handy in the future. And I was right.

Just when I decided to take them to work this morning, one of the trains did an unscheduled maintenance at Holsworthy station and created a confusion on which trains where going where. I had to board and then get off  a train three times since what they had on the electronic board was different from what was announced on the train which was bad news for me as I had an extra heavy bag to carry as the notepads were heavy. It took me an hour and a half to get to work when normally only takes half-an-hour. Anyway, I got all these supplies piled up in my locker at work now and will be put in a box once I receive the box to use and so with the rest of what I will be able to collect.

To Mo, thank you so much for the art supplies. These kids for some unexplainable reasons seem to enjoy drawing and colouring so am sure they will enjoy each and every pencil on this bunch. Thank you.

My Winter Appeal sets

Last Saturday morning from the postoffice I decided to go to K-mart and check out prices for the winter appeal program. The items that I bought were still a bit pricey because I think it is still a bit early to be buying these type of clothing especially when it is still about 34 degrees outside in some locations.

Anyway, I bought myself 2 sets for the winter appeal program. One for a boy and one for a girl both size 6. I  found a ready-made set more expensive so decided to go for a mix and match.

Just to give everyone an idea as to how much it probably will cost you to buy a set here is what I spent. Other shops maybe  cheaper so I would suggest shopping around before buying anything if you are intending to donate.
           For the girl size 6 I paid $5.00 for the close neck shirt and $6.00 for the leggings.
           For the boy size 6 I paid $5.00 for the close neck shirt and $8.00 for the pants
I think i can find the pants cheaper in other shops but it was good quality and did not really want to drive to another mall to save a dollar because then my petrol would be more expensive. :-) And because I only needed one singlet and one pair of socks each and looking at prices buying a pack of 3 was cheaper than buying just one piece, I bought a pack of 3 for the socks and the singlet at $5.00 each. So now I have an extra pair of socks and singlet which I can allocate to other contributions requiring a sock or a singlet. I did not have to buy a beanie. I got the allocation from the beanies Gaylene Herrmann sent to me last week. 

All in all I spent $14.30 for the girl winter set and $16.30 for the boy winter set. For some of you who wants to help in the winter appeal, if you shop around I think you will be able to get it at a cheaper price. Maybe next week it will be a dollar or 2 cheaper. It is just me who does not want to do it. I will just skip my dessert a day next week to make up for it or buy sushi rolls instead of a lasagne for lunch. LOL!

So now I have the following available for allocation to other sets -
1 singlet
1 pair of socks
5 beanies 
I have not look at the submissions yet but whoever needs any of the above, please let me know.

Information on the Winter Appeal for South Africa

This year is going to be an awesome year and the first drive that will contribute to a 2014 awesome year is the winter appeal for the children of South Africa . I wish I could raise more but due to parcel constraints, at this time I am only raising winter clothing for 40 children.  I may add more depending on weight and space availability so it is very important that the guidelines on what to contribute is followed. These requirements have been set up to comply or make sure that I meet the foundation’s requirements of their clothing sponsorship program.

What is required from donors - For every child, there should be
(1) one closed-neck long-sleeved cotton t-shirt
(2) one winter singlet
(3) one cotton pants or fleece pants
(4) one pair of winter socks
(5) one beanie 

I am setting a limit of one donor-one child to give chance to others who may want to contribute. If you cannot provide the whole set, please identify what you can donate by ticking the box in the form of the item that you can contribute . Any missing item will be sourced from other donors. (i.e. Beanies, I currently have 10 beanies on hand). 

The clothing materials need to be brand new. Used clothing will not be included in any of the parcels. The foundation has a ‘hand-me-down’ policy for the clothes. If a kid who is 5 years old outgrows his allocation, if the clothing items are still wearable it is handed down to another 5 year old who needs a new allocation and the previous owner gets allocated a new set based on his new size. So it is very important that the items are durable and new so it would last longer.

The winter parcel needs to leave Australia by mid-of May so I am looking at early or mid-March to have all contributions already on its way to Sydney. Confirmation of parcel due date will be advised once I have the numbers of contributions confirmed.

Here is the link to the form where you can provide your details and intention to help keep at least 40 children in South Africa warm this winter -

Winter Appeal for South Africa

Thank you all for your kindness and generosity!

If anyone has a question(s), please feel free to send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com.