FY12 Dress Distribution #8 - Pillowcase Dress Kits for Lilia

Distribution #8 is something different. They are not dresses. Not yet. They are pillowcase dress kits to be made into dresses by Lilia R. Tapia from CDO Philippines. This is the second parcel for her and has been patiently waiting for it. 20 pillowcase dress kits which includes buttons, laces, bias tapes, threads, ribbons and of course pillowcases.

Lilia just came back from a 3-day medical and dental mission in another city with CDO Lifeline Ministries which is a group of 64 doctors and nurses and she joined them as the pharmacist of the group. She looks forward to the second installment of her mission work - to make 20 more dresses for the less fortunate children in her location.

Here is the parcel -

 and here are the contents of the parcel -

and all it needs is for Lilia to sit down and start rolling her sewing machine to make 20 dresses. Also included are bitsy pieces of fabrics which she can use for pockets and ruffle embellishments. This parcel was made possible through the donations of the following supporters of Dress A Girl Australia -

1. Flor dela Cruz
2. Jane Kelly, Marieka Ashmore and Liz Skinner of Coffs Harbour
3. Ladies Cenacle and members of the Espiritu Santo Parochial School
4. Meredith Kain
5. Dress A Girl Australia

To all the donors, thank you so much for making this parcel possible. Thank you for your support.

Update on the ECPAT parcel

I received an email last night letting me know that the parcel I sent to ECPAT Phils containing 20 pillowcase dress kits has been received last Tuesday, 27th of March by Ms. Dolores Alforte- ECPAT Executive Director.

Soon girls from this home will be learning new skills to help make their future a little better and this has been made possible through your support of Dress A Girl Australia's campaign to help disadvantaged children around the world. 

Thank you everyone!

First parcel to ECPAT Phils

Today I finally made it to AusPost to send Dress A Girl Australia's first parcel to Alice Jalland who is doing volunteer work for ECPAT Phils. Inside this parcel are 20 pillowcase dress kits including buttons, ribbons and laces.

Alice was introduced to me by my niece Danielle Naranjilla sometime in January who, like Alice, is doing volunteer work but for the Australian Red Cross in the Philippines. To make the story short (as it is now almost midnight) Alice loved Dress A Girl Australia and thought it was a very great idea to introduce sewing to the girls she was working with. She is going to use the pillowcase dress kits to teach the girls how to sew, develop a skill that will help them earn a living or prepare them for a brighter future. So here is the package that was sent today 

Since I could only find a small box which was enough to accommodate the 20 dress kits and based on my calculation it was cheaper to split the goodies into 2 parcels, another parcel (#2) will be posted this weekend and this second parcel will include 22 dresses to dress the girls Alice is working with 11 of which are I think living in ECPAT's temporary shelter. The girls' ages range from 9 to 15. Ten of them are in the elementary school and twelve are in high school. 

ECPAT Philippines' mission is to end child prostitution, child pornography and trafficking of children for sexual purposes. It is a global organization after the welfare of children. Philippines is one of the countries who is very actively involved in this mission. To know more about ECPAT Philippines, click on the link below -

                                 http://www.ecpatphilippines.com/index.php/en/

If you want to help Dress A GIrl Australia in helping girls in need of support and assistance to make their lives a little bit better, you can help by donating pillowcases and/or fabrics to make into pillowcase dress kits. Even just one pillowcase can make a lot of difference to the world of these kids. 

For more information, please send email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com. For pillowcase donations, please send them to Dress A Girl Australia, P.O. Box 240, Casula Mall Casula NSW 2170. Thank you.

More Dresses from Lilia

Happy to post more dresses which Lilia Tapia made from the first batch of pillowcase dress kits which I sent to her in early December. The pillowcase dress kits were donated to Dress A Girl Australia by the Cenacle Group, Servants of the Lord and Espiritu Santo Parochial School under the coordination of Erlyn Ballesta Sanchez. 

I will keep everyone posted on this site as very soon these dresses will find a home.

Lil, thank you so much for donating your spare time in making these pillowcase dresses for the needy girls in your location. Feel proud when each of these dresses find a home and get to be worn by the most lucky girls. Stand tall that through these dresses you found a way to make a difference in this world and made our friend 'earth' a better place to live in. Thank you my classmate!

Profile of a Dress A Girl Australia campaigner - Meet Lilia R Tapia

A campaigner for Dress A Girl Australia from the least expected place. Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines. This city of golden friendship lies along the northern coastline of the island of Mindanao which is the second giant of the archipelago of all the landmass of the Philippines, in the country's southern portion. 

This is where Lilia R Tapia lives and is making dresses for Dress A Girl Australia in her spare time. If you are wondering how I met her she is actually a high school classmate of mine who I had the chance to reconnect when I attended our high school reunion in 2010. The last time I saw her was when we graduated in high school decades ago. I saw her again in September of 2011 when I decided to go back and visit my native hometown for a couple of days to share about 25 dresses with the less fortunate children of the city through the assistance of the Ladies of Zonta International, CDO Chapter, Philippines. It was on my second visit that Lilia and I spoke about her desire to help, her wish to make a difference in this world. I offered to provide her with pillowcase dress kits to make into dresses and that she is not to send the dresses to me instead she finds little girls in areas who she thinks deserves to own and wear her creations. She was so excited about the idea that when I was back in Sydney every now and then I would get messages from her reminding me of my promise to send her kits which I finally got the chance to send in early December. It took almost 6 weeks for the  airmail parcel to arrive but at least it found its way to Lilia's home. She was so thankful that she finally got the parcel and two weeks ago she advised me that she has started sewing dresses.

This is Lilia sitting behind her sewing machine. I love her sewing machine. I wish I could have one like it. My mum and my 'lola' (my mum's mother) used to own one.  

And these are the dresses she has sewn (all five of them) and by the time she finished she will have about 10 dresses for 10 little girls in the southern portion of the Philippines. 10 happy faces brought about by Lilia's desire to make a difference from where she lives.

Lil, I am so happy and grateful for what you are doing for Dress A Girl Australia. Thank you so much for sewing dresses. You and I under the Dress A Girl Australia banner will go a long way in making sure we make a difference in the lives of the less fortunate children in your part of the world, your home, my native hometown. Together you and I will imagine a world where every little girl owned at least one dress and that nothing can stop us from our desire to make a difference in this world....not even distance....but one dress at a time.