Another girl loving her dress

This is another facebook posting made by Free to Shine a non-profit organization whose focus of charity work is in Cambodia. A cute Cambodian girl loving the dress she received last year which was made by Wendy Yates.

And with a big smile on her face...it makes you inspired and happy that you had made a difference to the life of this kid. Just imagine how many more kids around the world feel the same way she does after getting to own one nice small dress. For some of us we take owning a new dress for granted but for these kids it is a treasure to own and keep. Thank you to Wendy for making the dress and this picture possible. And thank you to Free to Shine for sharing this picture.

To know more about the work of Free to Shine in Cambodia, please click here. And check out their facebook page here.

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.

I can still remember this dress

This poster was posted in Free to Shine's facebook page that I follow and amazingly after all the thousands of dresses I have packed and sent last year I could still remember this dress. This is one of the t-shirt dresses I made early last year (2013) when I was attempting to do 'one dress a day' campaign and was given to one of the schoolkids being educated by the Free to Shine non-profit organization in Cambodia.

The skirt fabric material was donated by Louise Wright of Tasmania and the t-shirt came from my collection. Every now and then when I see t-shirts on sale I would make a purchase as I know that one day I can put it to good use. Am not only a cotton fabric hoarder but also a t-shirt hoarder (LOL!). Seeing the dress again on this poster made my day.

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.

Acknowledgement on Days for Girls (Oatley NSW) parcel

After twice forgetting to take with me the parcel I packed for Days for Girls (Oatley NSW) I finally was able to send it last Friday, the 28th. I checked out the date I finished the packing and it was on the 4th of March. Took almost a month to get to Oatley. :-)

Today, it was delivered and received this email from Beverly de Meur -

It was a pleasure packing those items knowing the end results of those materials would be going to deserving teens or mums around the world.

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 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.

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.

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.

Donation to Days for Girls (Oatley Sydney Chapter)

After careful consideration about a month ago that I will not be able to offer my assistance in distributing Days for Girls Kits to different needy locations around the world as some chapters in the US who are involved in the Dress A Girl Around the World campaign in the US do, I thought I would just make a personal contribution to the organization. The 100% quilting cottons of about 10 meters are from my personal fabric collection and the 10 metres PUL I purchased with the intention of donating to Days for Girls Oatley. I have also included some excellent towelling materials which they can make into face towels. Am sure it will not be that hard to sew face towels. These towelling materials I used to make teddy bears with it.

Here is the 10-kilo parcel I packed last night to be sent to Beverley de Meur of Oatley –

and here are the contents of the parcel.

1) 10 metres of PUL materials

2) About 10 metres or more of 100% quilting cotton materials

3) About 6 metres of towelling materials

4) 1 box of 100 extra large resealable bags

5) 4 packs of 4 mini laundry soaps per pack

I hope these materials will be good enough for the organization to use to make more kits. These items will be sent to the Days for Girls Oatley chapter in Sydney as soon as I have the chance to take it to the postoffice.

Arts, Craft and Book Supplies Charity Drives

I posted this in my facebook page but missed here in my blog. I am collecting colouring pencils,crayons, note pads and children’s books for Indi Kindi starting today until the end of March. Indi Kindi is a literacy program of the Nangala Project in Australia, which helps create a brighter future for Aboriginal children. The items I am collecting will be for the children of the remote Aboriginal community of Borroloola, NT. 

For privacy reasons I cannot mention where I work but as a community champion, I also do collections for this drive at work.

I hope to be able to volunteer for at least a week to this community before the end of the year and possibly handcarry dresses with me. I am loving it that I get to be involved in making a difference to the future of these kids as it is a very rare opportunity. 

Also, this year I am collecting school supplies such as pens, exercise books, rulers, sharpeners for elementary kiddies for selected schools within the Asia region. I have not decided which locations these school supplies will go to but I am starting to save up for the new schoolyear.

If you have any supplies to donate, please send them to Dress A Girl Australia P.O. Box 240 Casula Mall Casula NSW 2170. Thank you in advance. Your kindness and generosity is so much appreciated! 

Feedback from NSW Meals on Wheels

Sharing with you an email I received today from Sanuja of NSW Meals on Wheels regarding the Valentine Cards I sent them to give to their clients on Valentines Day.

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

Thank you to Elaine Klein, Sarah Tanmahapran, Carolyn Walker and Two flew over the cuckoo's nest for their wonderful and generous contributions.

And thank you so much to NSW Meals on Wheels for giving me the opportunity to brighten their clients' day on Valentines Day. It was a pleasure packing up and sending those cards knowing that it will bring great smiles especially to those who are isolated. 

More Cards for Valentines Day (NSW Meals on Wheels)

An additional 100 cards were sent to NSW Meals on Wheels through the kindness and generosity of Two Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest.

That is another 100 beaming happy faces this coming Valentines Day. What a great day it would be I hope for those who will be lucky enough to receive one of these cards.

Thank you Two Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Valentine Cards for NSW Meals on Wheels

Off the parcel went this morning filled with almost 150 Valentine cards....on its way to NSW Meals on Wheels to distribute to recipients of NSW Meals on Wheels' services this coming Valentines Day and hopefully will bring many smiles to their faces especially to those who are isolated.
This is the parcel -

filled with these variety of Valentine cards -

I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the following ladies who found it in their hearts to share with a very small group of members of the community something special on Valentines Day and I hope that the day will bring full of happiness and love to everyone. A glimpse of heaven. 
1) Elaine Klein
2) Carolyn Walker
3) Sarah Tanmahapran

And a special thank you to Sanuja of NSW Meals on Wheels for giving me the opportunity to share these cards with their clients. Thank you so much.