Emails of thanks from the Borroloola Community N.T.

Again, am sharing emails of thanks I received today regarding the dress distribution I allocated to the children of the Borroloola Community in the Northern Territory.

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

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

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

Dress Distribution #59 - For the children of the Borroloola Community in the Northern Territory

This particular distribution is for the children of the Borroloola Community in the Northern Territory. A parcel of 75 dresses and 25 pairs of shorts handed over to Les Roelandts, Manager of Employee Relations of Qantas Engineering who will oversee the distribution to the community. 
Here are the parcels -

and here are the contents of the parcels -

made possible by the following donors -
1) Nhulunbuy Christian College NT
2) Maureen O'Brien
3) Ladies of Kapunda South Australia Sewing Group
4) Paola Campora-Kaal
5) Vanya Bryant
6) Roz Dyson
7) Fabric by Sarah Fraser and sewn by Evelyn Smart
8) Emily Bieber and friends
9) Two Bettys Betty Barrett and Betty Paull
10) Julie Bolton
11) Katherine Nott

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. Thank you for the materials, time, money and effort you all spent in making these dresses being given to the less fortunate children of the community of Borroloola, Northern Territory. Your kindness and generosity is very much appreciated. Thank you.

If you feel the need to enquire about this distribution, please send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com. Thank you.

Dress Distribution #47 - For the Children of the Riverina Murray Playgroup

This is another unscheduled distribution which I did not want to miss. In such a very short notice I came up with 2 parcels which was sent last Tuesday and were received yesterday for children under age 3 who belong to a playgroup in Riverina Murray, Wagga Wagga under the coordination of Kelly Robertson of Save the Children Australia. In the parcels that I sent were about 50 soft toys as Christmas presents for the children, dresses and pairs of shorts, t-shirts and undies.
I have published the parcels earlier in the week and here are the contents of parcel #1 -

made possible by the following donors -

1) Frances Cornish
2) Tannis Brennan
3) Valda Ridley
4) Fabi Sun
5) Liz Williams for the undies
6) Gaylene Herrmann
7) The Sewing Library facebook group
8) Jenny Jarvis
9) Sandra Lew
10) Bethany Greenaway
11) Ladies of Kapunda Sewing Group including several sponsored dresses
12) Sally Giles
13) Nicole Devet
14) Alana Pritchard
and the contents of parcel #2 - soft toys

made possible by the following donors (my work colleagues) -
1) Jenny Fegredo
2) Haesook Jo
3) Candace Quach
4) Agnes Kwong 
5) Agnes' friend Candy
6) Munich Sami
7) Vlad Vanovac
8) Vincent Yuen
9) and a few teddy bears from Dress  A Girl Australia

To see larger images of the dresses, shirts and shorts please click here. For the soft toys' contributions, 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 to all the donors who made these 2 parcels possible especially to my work colleagues for coming up with the soft toy goodies in such a very short notice. Thank you so much. Thank you for helping keep the spirit of Christmas alive. It is much appreciated. 

Packing #4 for the children of Australia - from the men at work

Not from the band but from my male work colleagues. They were the reason why I had to wait till today to send my parcel but look at what they came up with. I cant leave it behind -

To Vlad, Munich and Vincent, thank you so much. Thank you for helping keep the spirit of Christmas alive especially for the disadvantaged kiddies. It is much appreciated.

And here are the 2 parcels I posted late this afternoon for Wagga NSW. A photo-finish
sent off with the postoffice about to close and the Australia post van almost ready to leave with their collection of the day. Whew! I was practically running so the van can take along my 2 parcels as it takes at least 3 days for mails to arrive in Wagga and not possible for me to take to work to post at lunchtime tomorrow so the parcels had to go today. 

So my parcels left with the van with 50 soft toys (10 more), 30 dresses, 7-t-shirts,4 shirts, 7 pairs of shorts and about 18 pairs of boys undies all for children under 3. I did not send any undies for the girls as I could not find any girls undies for below 3. I practically opened all plastic bags with undies but I could not believe there was none. Since it was almost midnight (maybe I was not seeing the size numbers right) and I still needed to pack the boxes I decided to stop looking and not send any. Went to bed at 1am and had only about 5 hours of sleep as I wanted to go to work early so I can leave early to post the parcels. And I made it and all's well that ends well.

More details on the contents of the parcels (i.e. donors) to be published soon.

Packing #3 for the children of Australia

This is the third batch of soft toys for the children of Riverina/Murray playgroup donated by Agnes Kwong and her friend Candy bringing the total number of soft toys I have received to 40. I have another bag (final bag) which I will take home tomorrow and make sure the parcels are posted by tomorrow afternoon as I think it takes at least about 3 days for parcels to get delivered to Wagga.

Another 7 kiddies will have someone soft to hug anytime during the day. Thank you so much to Agnes and her friend Candy for these wonderful presents to the children of the Riverina/Murray playgroup. Thank you guys!

Packing #2 for the children of Australia

This is the second batch of soft toys for the children of the Riverina/Murray playgroup. These softies have been donated by several donors from work namely Candace Quach, Haesook Jo and Jenny Fegredo and from myself too. I have a few more to bring home on Monday as not everything could be accommodated on the bag that I had.

What a wonderful Christmas it would be for the 40 kiddies of the Riverina/Murray Group. To Candace, Jo and Jenny, thank you for your kindness and generosity. Thank you for the gifts. It is so much appreciated. Thank you.

Packing #1 for the children of Australia

Less than 24 hours after I made my statement that there will be no more dress distributions for the year, I am about to start packing for around 40 children under the age of 3 for the Riverina/Murray playgroup. I am always excited when what I do is for the children of this community. Took me almost 2 years of making contacts with different groups of people when I finally got a chance to make a difference with the kiddies of Wilcannia. Now am about to provide gifts to the kiddies of Riverina/Murray. So happy that I found someone who is such a great help. 

Here are some stuff that will be going to them in addition to some clothes and tomorrow I will be making my rounds at work to get some support from them. It is Christmas and we are into the season of giving. This will be my intro. :-)  I always like it when they respond with 'Yeah right Gigi'. Then the question of 'Will you do the shopping for us?' How can I say no. Lucky me I live about 8 minutes away from K-mart. :-)

Another 40 kiddies having a special Christmas thru the kindness and generosity of everyone. By the way, I bought these mini teddy bear softies at $2.00 each at K-mart using my flybuys points. I specifically went to K-mart to ask how many points I have collected and this is what I got after I converted them into dollars. Before I used to snub my flybuys. Whenever they asked me at the counter if I had a flybuys card I would say no even if I had one as I could not be bothered taking it out from my wallet but now I am the biggest fan. I used it all the time for charity. I activate every offer they send where you get more points when you shop on weekends even if I dont have plans to go shopping. Sometimes you get 500 points just for shopping on weekends at Coles. It benefits me because I do my shopping on weekends.
Thanks to flybuys, I get to give 10 mini teddybear softies to 10 kiddies in Riverina/Murray playgroup.

100 Thongs off to Wilcannia

I still have a few parcels to publish with donors and I think I will only be able to do this once all the parcels have left my humble abode. I still have not finish identifying the donors of the dresses and needs time to be able to do it. Anyway, this one is easy as I have a ready list of donors.

I had the perfect boxes of 50 pairs per box of thongs and off they went to Wilcannia this afternoon two weeks ahead of schedule. (Looks like my schedule of parcel send-offs is not working. :-))

Here are the parcels with 50 pairs per box -

the thongs -

and here is the list of the 'More than a mile' with thongs' donors who made these 2 parcels possible and who made it more possible for the children of Wilcannia NSW to walk...hop...jump...skip...run for more than a mile without feeling too much heat from the ground -

1. Kaylee and Kate Healy
2. Margie Burke
3. Candace Quach
4. Sue-Ellen Cox
5. Gaylene Herrmann
6. Two Bettys' Betty Barrett and Betty Paull
7. Maureen O'Brien
8. Cassandra Biadacz
9. Agnes Kwong and friend Candy
10. Jenny F. 
11. Joan Lui
12. Jo Haesook
13. Yetman
14. Dress A Girl Australia

To see larger images of the thongs, 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.

My wholehearted thank you to all the donors who made this drive so much a success. Thank you so much.

Feedback from Wilcannia

Received this email today from my friend Belinda Ritchie who is moving back to Sydney and leaving Wilcannia. I thought I would share it with everyone -

I look forward to coordinating making a difference in Wilcannia with whoever is going to replace Belinda and wish her all the best for the future. Thank you Belinda for giving me the opportunity to make a difference with the children of Wilcannia.

To access a readable version of this email, please click here.

Last day of the 'More than a mile' with thongs charity drive

Today is the last day of the 'More than a mile' with thongs' Christmas charity drive for the children of Wilcannia NSW. The final number of thongs received is 104 which is 4 more than what I wanted to raise. I am not expecting more thongs so am closing the charity drive today so I can start packing them up, seal the box, add it in the queue and ready to be sent when its schedule to be sent comes up on the list in the next couple of weeks.

Heaps and heaps of heartfelt thanks to all who made this charity drive so much a success, for allowing these kids to hop, run, skip, walk and jump for more than a mile without feeling so much heat on the ground. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. Thank you everyone for your kindness and generosity.

More details of the charity drive from beginning to end can be found here.

More than a mile #15 - 15 pairs from Kaylee and Kate

Have not had the chance to continue on my acknowledging the past week so today am focusing on donation acknowledgements again and the first on the list is from a mother and daughter team of Kaylee and Kate Healy and happy to help with 15 pairs of thongs, their contribution to the 'More than a mile' with thongs charity drive for the children of Wilcannia. These pairs brings my total to 104.

To Kaylee and Kate, thank you so much for bringing 15 more happy faces to this great world of ours, 15 feet that will not be feeling any heat on the ground from hopping, walking, jumping and running around for more than a mile. Thank you so much.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/10 #150 - From Fabi

Number 150 on the list is from my sister Fabi. A batch of 4 tshirts, 2 shirts and a winter jacket. The winter jacket will be allocated to the Clothing Sponsorship program (Winter Edition) I have committed to the Morning Star Foundation of South Africa next year. With the freight concession I got for sending parcels to South Africa I will be starting to collect winter clothes starting early next year. Details will be made available soon for those who would like to make a donation. The shirts and t-shirts will be allocated to the kids of Wilcannia NSW and will be matched with pairs of shorts. Here are the goodies from Fabi -

Thank you Fabi! Hope we get a chance to see kids running around wearing these goodies soon!

More than a mile #14 - 10 pairs from Margie

Was in a hurry to leave work so I could buy thongs for Margie Burke. I was thinking it is Thursday a lot of people might go shopping. Lucky me, although there wasnt much choice on colours, I was able to buy the sizes that I needed and that's for smaller kids. They had lots of them hanging in the slipper section today. Here's another 10 pairs from Margie Burke bringing my total to 89 as of today. 

WooHoo!!! Almost there! Thank you so much Margie. And what a great idea to save on postage. Thanks!

If you want to join the 'More than a mile' with thongs christmas charity drive for the children of Wilcannia, please feel free to do so. For more information, click here or send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com.

More than a mile #13 - 5 pairs from Candace

5 pairs of thongs was my 'thong' takeaway from work today from Candace Quach bringing my total to 79 thongs on Day 21 of 'More than a mile' with thongs for the children of Wilcannia. Here are the 5 pairs from Candace -

Thank you Candace for bringing 5 smiles to this world with your 5 pairs of thongs. It is very much appreciated. Thank you.

Come and help bring more smiles to this world through your kindness and generosity. Join and support Dress A Girl Australia's 'More than a mile' with thongs christmas charity drive for the children of Wilcannia NSW. For more details, please feel free to send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com.

More than a mile #12 - 10 pairs from Dress A Girl Australia

On my way home I decided to stop by Coles and noticed my wallet was kind of heavy. Earlier in the day I did notice my bag was also getting heavier (walk from the parking to the station is about 6 mins). Turned out my wallet was full of coins. When I got back to the car I looked into my wallet and a quick scan I thought I had more than 20 bucks in coins. So I decided to go to Kmart which was right next to Coles and see if there was any 'thong' sale going on so I can put my coins into good use. And this is what I got for some of my coins. 10 pairs of thongs for $20. 

Anything for the kids of Wilcannia NSW. These 10 pairs brings my total to 74 as of today.

More than a mile #11 - 2 pairs from Sue-Ellen

From Sue-Ellen Cox are 2 pairs bringing my total to 64 as of today. Included in the parcel was another quilt which is going to be acknowledged separately.

To Sue-Ellen, thank you so much for your support, kindness and generosity. It is very much appreciated.

If you are wondering why am collecting thongs, this is for the children of Wilcannia NSW. If you can help, it will be very much appreciated. For more details, please feel free to send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com. Thank you.

More than a mile #10 - 7 pairs from Gaylene

Seven pairs this time from Gaylene Herrmann who is one of the early supporters of Dress A Girl Australia. Also included in the parcel she sent were dresses that will be acknowledged separately. Here are the 7 pairs that am pretty confident will generate 7 big smiles when received -

To Gaylene, thank you so much for your unwavering support of Dress A Girl (around the world) Australia. Thank you for your kindness and generosity which is helping make this world a better place. It is so much appreciated. Thank you.

More than a mile #8 and #9 - from the dynamic duo Betty Barrett and Betty Paull

Although the parcels came separately, am acknowledging these pairs of thongs together that came from a special pair of ladies who provides support and inspiration to Dress A Girl Australia as a pair of 85-year olds.  Betty Barrett and Betty Paull. If you watched the movie 'Forrest Gump' perhaps you would remember Forrest Gump often saying 'Me and Jenny goes together like peas and carrots'. That is Betty Barrett and Betty Paull, they go together like peas and carrots and this time between the 2 of them are these 9 pairs of thongs. 
These pairs came from Betty Paull -

 and these pairs came from Betty Barrett -

To dear Betty B and Betty P, thank you so much for all the help and support you have provided to Dress A Girl (around the world) Australia. Thank you for all the time and effort you both spend together making this world a better place. You two are such an inspiration to everyone and a great example especially for the younger ones. Thank you so much.

More than a mile #7 - 6 pairs from Mo

6 happy kids with the 6 pairs of thongs from Mo O'Brien and number 7 on the list. In the same parcel were dresses, pairs of shorts and t-shirts to be acknowledged separately. Here are the thongs from Mo -

Such great kindness and generosity, thank you so much Mo for making this world a better place. It is so much appreciated.

More than a mile #6 from Cassandra

Number 6 on 'more than a mile' list is a parcel of 5 pairs of thongs from Cassandra Biadacz. Cassandra is a great supporter of the Dress a girl around the world campaign. Here are the pairs she sent for the drive -

To Cassandra, thank you so much for your support. Through your kindness and generosity, the world is so much a better place. Thank you.