Picture Feedback from parcels sent to Morningstar Foundation South Africa.

I received this picture and letter tonight from Tricia of Morningstar Foundation South Africa. These dresses were included in one of the 6 boxes (South Africa Winter Collection) I sent to Morningstar Foundation in South Africa last month. Seeing these kids with their big smiles makes the job (although hard as sometimes you have to endure negative comments, of people trying to bring you down for reasons I cannot understand why and takes a lot of effort to be very strong) very rewarding and fulfilling.

and here is the letter I received with the pictures -

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

Thank you Tricia and Joan for such a wonderful letter of gratitude and the pictures. Not only did the girls had such great big smiles on their faces but it also brought a big smile for me. Thank you. And thank you to the donors who made this distribution possible. Much appreciated.

Feedback from Parcels sent to Morningstar Foundation, South Africa

Here is an email I received last July 17 from Joan Adams of Morningstar Foundation regarding the Winter Collection boxes I sent for the children of the Morningstar Orphanage -

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

Dress Distribution #56 - Children of Durban South Africa Summer Edition Parcel 1C

Too cold tonight to just sit down and do nothing while waiting for football games to start so I decided to do an advance packing for the children of Durban South Africa Summer Edition. Also with advance packing I am able to forecast and note down how much I would need to be able to send them. This is the third parcel for the year for the kiddies in Durban which will be posted hopefully in early September to arrive in early December in time for Christmas for 47 girls and 11 boys. Here is the parcel -

and here are the contents of the parcel -

made possible by the following donors -
1) Vanya Bryant
2) Sarah Macraild
3) Sharron Arnold
4) Sarah Tanmahapran
5) Monika Osvald
6) Maureen O'Brien
7) Suzanne Nixon and the Members of All Saints' Parish South Hobart 
8) Di Menzel
9) Craft and Hope and the Kapunda Sewing Group S.A.

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. Your kindness and generosity is very much appreciated. Thank you.

Dress Distribution #56 - Children of Durban South Africa Parcel 1B (Winter Edition 2014)

Second parcel and Distribution #56 for Durban South Africa are winter dresses and accessories which I will be mailing to Nicolette Tilley at the end of this month of June. I dont think it would be a good idea to send another parcel so soon after the first one. Since this package is ready to go, details are ready to be published. 

Here is the parcel - which am thinking of repacking with the normal big brown envelope instead of a box to make it more light in weight and make the parcel look more for personal use -

and here are the contents of the parcel -

made possible by the following donors -
1) Heather Harris
2) Vanya Bryant
3) Ladies of Kapunda sewing group
4) Kirsten Purvis

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. Your kindness and generosity is very much appreciated. Thank you.

Please note that at this time and until further advised, I am not accepting any donations (winter dresses, beanies and other accessories) that are wearable only for cold and/or winter conditions. Unlike big organizations where they can afford to have their own warehouses or have big-name sponsors to pay for them, I have none of these luxuries and have no more space in my house to keep the donations for next year's winter distributions. My garage is full so please understand and keep this in mind. I will let everyone know when am ready to accept these type of dresses and accessories sometime next year. Thank you.

Quilt Distribution #6 - Quilts for South Africa c-o Morningstar Foundation

Since I had to send at least 30 kilos worth of clothing to get really good value for money on the sending of parcels to South Africa I decided to send some quilts as well for the children of Morningstar Foundation. Of the six parcels two of them are filled with 13 quilts and is Distribution #6. I think there is no need to show the parcels here as it has been published already in the Dress Distribution (all  6 of them) but here are the contents of the 2 parcels -

made possible by the following donors -
1) Vanya Bryant
2) Craft and Hope Group of Kapunda S.A.
3) Annette Norley
4) Vera Jeffs, Lorraine Sandow & Gaynor Bottcher
5) Sandra Turnbull

To see larger images of the quilts, please click here or click on the special tab "Dress Distribution" located at top of this page.

Thank you all for making these parcels possible. Thank you for your support of Dress A Girl Australia's initiative to keep a few children of South Africa warm and make them feel comfort and joy during their winter this year and the years to come. Thank you. It is very much appreciated.

Dress Distribution #62 - Children of South Africa c/o Morningstar Foundation (Winter Edition 2014)

There is a delay in the sending of these six parcels to South Africa c/o Morningstar Foundation due to some customs requirements I needed to comply with before I can send off the consignment otherwise Morningstar Foundation will encounter problems again with the releasing of the parcels. I finally received the NPO Certificate from Joan Adams and now I have to write a letter stating the purpose of the consignment and attach the certificate. And I also have to label the parcels as personal gifts for charity for the Morning Star Children's Centre. Since I have already packed the parcels I probably would just add the 'special gift' label on the sides so it is not suspected as items being sent through to sell. Fingers crossed, the parcels will be released without any hiccups and/or customs fees and am now ready to publish the distribution.

Here are the 6 parcels - 2 of the parcels contain quilts details of which will be published separately under quilt distribution (can no longer identify which ones have the quilts as I forgot to mark the box before sealing)

and here are the contents of the 4 of the 6 parcels -

made possible by the following donors -
1) Gaylene Herrmann
2) Vanya Bryant
3) Sarah Tanmahapran
4) Two Bettys - Betty Barrett and Betty Paull
5) Sandra Turnbull
6) Craft and Hope and Kapunda Sewing Group S.A.
7) Elaine Klein
8) Norma Schubert Gawler S.A.
9) Heather Harris
10) Carolyn Walker
11) Jayne Hogan
12) Margaret Blanch
13) Sharyn Cafee
14) Kristen Purvis
15) Monica Osvald
16) Maureen O'Brien
17) Virginia Smith
18) Sarah Macraild
19) Jamie Gwiazda
20) Virginia Banks
21) Karina Tomlinson
22) Karine Maltby
23) Marlene Van Zetten
24) Natasha Clarke of Sgt Floyd
25) Fabi Sun
26) Wendy Yates
27) Dress A Girl Australia

For larger images of the items, 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.

A wholehearted thank you to all the donors who made these parcels possible especially to those who responded to Dress A Girl Australia's winter appeal for South Africa 2014.  Thank you all for your kindness and generosity. It is very much appreciated. Thanks!

FY14 South Africa Winter Appeal 2014 Batch 4 - More sets and other accessories for the winter program.

Wow!! Kindness and generosity  and the willingness of others to help make a difference to the lives of the less fortunate children and make this world a better place is overflowing here at Dress A Girl Australia. I feel like singing my favourite song 'What a wonderful world'.

This I believe would be the last batch for the winter appeal program for South Africa as I need to complete my packing and seal the boxes so it can be sent. Unfortunately, I cannot extend the date when I want to send the parcels. For this batch, complete winter sets from Karin Maltby(2), Marlene Van Zetten(2) and Carolyn Walker(1), hooded long sleeved shirts from Natasha Clarke of Sgt Floyd(11), two pairs of leggings from Monika Osvald and 14 beanies from Sandra Turnbull(10), Sarah Tanmahapran(2) and Vanya Bryant(2).And with the number of extras I received on singlets, beanies, pairs of socks and hooded and non-hooded long sleeved t-shirts I was able to create another set of 15 or 16 (I think! Sorry, was too tired to go back and count late last night but could be either of this number). Here are the contents of this final batch -

A wholehearted thank you once again to Karin, Marlene, Carolyn, Natasha, Monika, Sandra, Sarah and Vanya and to all the other donors previously acknowledged for all your wonderful contributions to this appeal thus making it a complete success. Thank you so much for the time, money and effort you all spent making these donations. It is so much appreciated. This posting closes off my Winter Appeal for South Africa charity drive. Heaps and heaps of thanks everyone!!

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 South Africa Winter Appeal 2014 Batch 2 of 4 sets from Vanya, Heather, Elaine and Virginia

More parcels have arrived containing winter sets and I hope to complete the opening by the end of today if time allows. Combining the sets in batches saves me a lot of time in posting so here are 4 sets from Vanya Bryant, Heather Harris, Elaine Klein and Virginia Smith. And with these batches came more spare pairs of socks and winter singlets. WooHoo! That means more kids gets warmer this winter.

Thank you to Vanya, Heather, Elaine and Virginia for your kindness and generosity. Thank you for keeping these children warm during their winter season. It is so much appreciated. Thanks a lot.

FY14 South Africa Winter Appeal 2014 Batch 1 of 2 Sets - From Mo and Monika

Am starting to fill up my winter appeal box for South Africa and the first 2 sets donated for the Winter appeal for South Africa comes from Mo O'Brien and Monika Osvald. Hopefully by the end of this week after I have opened up parcels with winter clothing, I would have an idea if I would still need more.

Thank you so much to Mo and Monika. Your unwavering support is so, so  much appreciated. Thank you.

Dress Distribution #56 - Children of Durban South Africa Parcel 1A

Dress Distribution #56 is a parcel of 24 dresses and undies for the children of Durban South Africa. This parcel will be sent to Nicolette Tilley who will find 24 disadvantaged kiddies in her community who will be delighted to accept and enjoy wearing these dresses. 
Here is the parcel -

and here are the contents of the parcel -

made possible by the following donors -
1) Sharyn Paull
2) Di Menzel
3) Sylvia Lowe (sewn by Dress A Girl Australia)
4) Louise Wright (sewn by Dress A Girl Australia)
5) Siobhan Leyne and Anna Dacre
6) Sandra Lew
7) Linda Smyth (sewn by Dress A Girl Australia)
8) Emily Bieber and friends
9) Mini Bags by Betty Barrett
10) Undies by the Ladies of Kapunda Sewing Group

Donor(s) of two dresses cannot be identified. If any of these dresses happen to be yours, let me know.

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 Durban South Africa . 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.

Feedback on Dress Distribution - Morningstar Foundation of Welkom South Africa

It was a long road to get these dresses to JNB South Africa from the time they were sorted and packed to finding the small road that will lead us to the freight terminal past the area's tight security to the processing of documents until I finally saw the boxes being taken away to a place waiting for it to be loaded on the first flight to JNB the following day. It was not an easy effort either to have these parcels released at the JNB International Airport because of the volume or number of parcels. The parcels were opened to make sure that they were dresses and Elizabeth of Morningstar promised the officials to send them pictures of the orphans wearing the dresses once they are released and distributed to prove that they were indeed charity gifts to the children. So you see it is not just a matter of dumping these dresses to the boxes. One has to make sure that what you sign in the documents is what is inside the parcels as described as you will never know what is going to happen at the place of destination.

But the effort was well worth it just by looking at the faces of these kids. As Joan would say these pictures are for my enjoyment which I am actually enjoying looking at the smiling faces but gladly sharing it with everyone especially to the few donors of some of the dresses being worn.

A job well done to all involved. Thank you and thank you to Joan Adams for the pictures. Much appreciated.

More Feedback from Morningstar South Africa

Sharing an email I received today from Morningstar Foundation of South Africa re dresses - A couple of paragraphs I removed as it was more of how to make the process of sending parcels via unaccompanied baggage can be improved. I think the message I am including here is the one that would interest some of you the most especially for donors whose dresses were included in the parcels.

For a larger and more readable version of this message, please click here. Thank you.

Donation Acknowledgement FY14/1 #1 - Beanies from Gaylene

I am making a couple of exceptions on donation acknowledgements (official start is still in April) because I need the items that have been donated. Donation #1 is from Gaylene Herrmann which is a pack of 7 beanies. These beanies I will be allocating to the Winter Appeal for South Africa where winter sets donated needs a beanie.
Here are the 7 beanies from Gaylene -

Two of these have already been allocated to the two winter sets I have donated (one green and one blue). I do not know how to knit so I definitely cannot make a beanie. LOL! There are five more left to be allocated.

To Gaylene, thank you so much for the beanies. So handy in the winter appeal program. Much, much appreciated.

Feedback on Unaccompanied Baggage Trial

The parcels have arrived in Johannesburg last week (21st of Jan). Here is a snapshot of Joan Adams email

I think R235.00 is equivalent to AUD$25.00 which is much lower than what I expected and what I was told here in Sydney. She must have been given a discount too. So happy!!!

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.

Dress Distribution #44 & #45 - Children of South Africa (Morningstar Foundation)

Continuing on the never-seem-to-end parcels of 2013 are these four parcels containing 158 dresses, 50 t-shirts, 50 pairs of boys shorts, undies, headscarves and hairties for the children of the Morningstar Foundation of Wellkom South Africa. Hopefully I have properly identified the dresses and donors of items inside each parcel and did not interchange it with parcels bound for other destinations. :-)
Here are the four parcels I packed for South Africa - Luckily I was able to get a special concession for these parcels otherwise it would have been impossible to send these many boxes weighing almost 50 kilos via air freight.

Here are the contents of the parcels and their respective donors. I have splitted them into 3 to make it easier for me to identify the donors of the dresses -
Parcel 1 contents -

made possible by the following donors -
1) Sian McIntosh, Sue Nash
2) Lorraine Walter
3) Sarah Tanmahapran
4) Hiroko Price
5) Kaylee Healy
6) Doris Beaty on behalf of Jolly Sun
7) Ladies of Kapunda Sewing Group
8) Monika Osvald
9) Laurel Murphy
10) Betty Barrett/Betty Paull
11) Lyn Granger
12) Debbie Nikolic and friend Wanda and sewn by Heather Harris
13) Siobhan Leyne and Anna Dacre
Parcel 2 contents -

made possible by the following donors -
1) Heyboom
2) Flor dela Cruz
3) Penny Grey
4) Karen Interlandi
5) Ladies of Kapunda Sewing group
6) Sarah Tanmahapran
7) Betty Barrett/Betty Paull
8) Frances Cornish
9) Sian McIntosh, Sue Nash and Judy Pettersson
10) Katherine Nott
11) Canungra Circle of Friends Qld
12) Linda Smyth
13) J Rich
14) Evelyn Smart, Colleen Barry, Veronica Tooey
and Parcel 3 & 4 -

made possible by the following donors -
1) Elaine Klein
2) Maureen O'Brien
3) Loris Pullen and Chris Redden
4) Karin Maltby
5) Vanya Bryant
6) Annette Norley
7) Betty Barrett/Betty Paull
8) Sarah Tanmahapran
9) Lyn Granger
10) Liz Williams
11) Monika Osvald
12) Ladies of Kapunda Sewing Group
13) Linda Smyth
14) Dress A Girl Australia

As posted earlier, it is no longer possible for me to identify the donors of the undies so thank you to everyone who has donated undies.

To see larger images of the contents of the parcel, please click here for the dresses, undies and other accessories and here for the t-shirts, shorts and undies. 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 all these parcels to South Africa possible. Thank you for your kindness and generosity. And my heartfelt thanks to Sian McIntosh and her dear friends for their postage contribution. Thank you for sharing the spirit of Christmas with these kiddies in South Africa. It is very much appreciated. Thank you.

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

17 t-shirts closes my South Africa collection

These 17 t-shirts donated by Elaine Klein closes my South Africa Collection. From this time on my focus would be in completing the sorting and packing of all dresses, t-shirts and pairs of shorts and weigh up the parcels to make sure that I do not exceed 45 kilos. 
Here are the 17 t-shirts kindly donated by Elaine -

To Elaine, thank you so much for the t-shirts, for responding so quickly in my call for t-shirts for South Africa. Thank you for your kindness and generosity. It is much appreciated.

T-Shirts for South Africa

I was thinking today (I should not be allowed to think, it is dangerous) that it might be a good idea to include t-shirts on the South Africa parcel to match some of the pairs of shorts. I wanted to close and tape the parcel of shorts but I was not really feeling comfortable closing it because there were no t-shirts. I have a tin where I usually put all the coins that makes my bag heavy. When I came home I opened the tin and check if I had enough coins to buy t-shirts. And it was my lucky day and more lucky because Kmart had the t-shirts still on sale. I counted and I had about $25 of gold and fifty-cent coins. Drove to K-mart and was able to buy 10 t-shirts. Just added a gold coin from my pocket. 

Here is my lucky tin again and still has some coins left -

and these are the 10 t-shirts I bought for South Africa - 3 of them were $2.00 each and the rest were $3.00 each.

Went home, packed them up and happy to close the parcel. Just had to have t-shirts inside the parcel. And isnt it great to have a "save for a rainy day" tin that can help grant your wish when needed. :-)

Clothing Sponsorship program for South Africa

Last week I wrote about a clothing sponsorship program I am joining to provide 2 sets of clothes for a child in South Africa. One for winter and one for summer. Joan Adams the manager of the Morning Star foundation thought that I was going to sponsor only one child. I said no I am sponsoring a lot. So she sent me these pictures of the few kids who will be benefitting from the clothing sponsorship program starting next year. Arent they cute?

Watch out for more details about this clothing sponsorship program early next year. Instead of sponsoring financially I get to sponsor with dresses and shorts that can be worn during their winter time and summer time. Am on the initial stage of planning on how best to send these clothes twice a year at the lowest postage cost I could get. 

For more information about Dress A Girl(Around the World) Australia, please feel free to send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com.