Valentine Cards for the elderly

I wrote something about this in my facebook page and just realize it tonight that I did not replicate it in my favourite blog. :-) I have several reasons why I am doing this and one of them is trying not to get burned-out with the task of sorting and packing dresses when I get home from work at night which I have been doing almost every night for the past 6 months. I need to do something temporary for a change (in addition to doing no distributions until April 2014 which is not really true because I am still sorting and packing for unscheduled distributions) and I thought about handmade cards. In case some of you have forgotten, I used to make and sell handmade cards and donated a dollar from every card I sold to a Breast Cancer research group. I stopped when I went into full-time job again and my donation also stopped especially that our signed agreement also expired. I did not ask for a renewal.  I still have some of those cards that were left unsold and most of them are Valentine cards (Does that mean then that no one gives cards anymore on Valentines Day or no one says 'Be mine on Valentines Day' . LOL!)

So last week I sent a general enquiry to Meals on Wheels NSW and mentioned to them about my intention. I thought sending an email was a better option as I was not sure how they would react if I rang them. At least if I did not get a response to my email I would not feel so bad compared to being turned down on the phone. :-) And luckily I got a message left on my voicemail that they were happy to do it on my behalf and that is distribute the cards to the elderly that they serve on Meals on Wheels on Valentines Day. They think it is such a great idea and very much appreciated. Unfortunately, the lady who rang me last week is on leave for a week and will not be back till Monday of next week so I do not have that much details as to where to send. In fact she said she will send me some forms to fill up for media involvement but I think I will let her know next week that it is ok not to have any media involvement. Am kind of a very private person. 

Meals on Wheels NSW I was also told has more than 180 services and I do not believe it will be possible to provide handmade cards to everyone so depending on the number of cards I have, we can select to which suburb(s) the cards can be given to when they deliver meals on the 14th of Feb which I believe is a great idea. So I am not going to say how many more cards I need especially to those who wants to help and/or donate cards but any card I will receive between now and end of next week will be highly appreciated. I myself am aiming for 100 and since I already have about 70-80 cards available I will try to make 20 more between now and next week.

Here are some of the Valentine cards I have available which I will be giving away to a few elderly people to show or let them know that there are many people in this world who still cares about them (even those who do not personally know them)

And to those who wants to help and/or donate cards, please send the cards to the address below -
                      Dress A Girl Australia
                      P.O. Box 240
                      Casula Mall Casula
                      NSW 2170

And please include your name and/or other peoples name if you are a group. Thank you so much for the help. It is very much appreciated.

Other Donations #2 - Drinking Bottles to Angels for the Forgotten

While browsing the internet last weekend I ended up in the Angels for the forgotten website. A couple of years ago I made some Christmas stockings for them. This time I read about some items they need that can be donated to be able to help out charities some people may wish to assist  if money is not a viable option. So I decided to donate and send this box of 15 new drinking bottles which I had been storing in my garage. Drinking bottles I bought about 5 years ago as my donation to a Breast Cancer fundraising drive when holidaying in the US. I took these bottles back home with me. And after 5 years will 

finally leave their spot in my garage and going to WaggaWagga as my donation to the Angels for the Forgotten, for some Australian kids to enjoy and quench their thirst using these drinking bottles.

To check out the list of other items needed by the Angels for the Forgotten for anyone who wishes to donate, please click here.

*** Angels for the forgotten is dedicated to giving dignity, hope and joy to our community's most vulnerable children, youth and families who are homeless, entering foster care or living in crisis. To know more about their work, please click here.

Other Donations #1 - Parcel of crayons, papers and cards to colour for the children of Wilcannia

Finally I got the chance to pack boxes and boxes of mini crayons, a ream of blank papers and cards to colour for the children of Wilcannia. I was told that the kiddies love to draw and colour and I have these packs of mini crayons in my garage which I used to include when I used to make colour-me-cards. When I stopped making cards, whenever I have the time I would start melting the crayons to create animals, hearts or anything I can think of. Now it is time to give them to a younger generation that loves to draw and colour. 

The ream of blank papers I took from the recycling bin at work. When we moved to a new building about 3 months ago, they were being thrown away so I took home a couple of reams to use for printing designs and patterns. There is just too much of it so am giving away one ream.
Here is the parcel that I will be sending this weekend to Wilcannia for the children to enjoy.

Also included on this parcel is a pack of erasers and a nursery rhyme book which Monika Osvald sent. Thank you Monika.

Dress Distribution #26 - For the children of Wilcannia NSW c/o Save the Children Australia

As the saying goes 'Charity begins at home'. For the children of Wilcannia, NSW are 50 dresses and 54 pairs of shorts through the kindness and assistance of Belinda Ritchie, the Coordinator of Wilcannia, Save the Children Australia.

If you are wondering why it is packed, it is because I still had to send it via Australia Post as it was cheaper compared to hand delivery as the M7 highway toll turned out to be more expensive. 
Here are the 50 dresses packed in the box -

and the 54 pairs of shorts for the boys -

made possible by the following donors -
1) The Sewing Library facebook group
2) Ladies of Kapunda (Sewing Bee #3 - Loris Pullen, Margaret Adair, Deborah Parish)
3) Amanda Sampson
4) Doris Beaty
5) Katherine Nott
6) Valda Ridley
7) Threading My Way
8) Sarah Petrie and Family
9) Leonie Harrison
10) Karin Maltby and the ladies from Perth
11) Georgia Wood
12) Suzie Pickett
13) Prudence Mann's Mum
14) Sharyn Paull 
15) Sharyn Paull's Family
16) Delilah Balmer
17) Monika Osvald
18) Becs Bags
19) Deirdre Parker
20) Frances Cornish
21) Loris Pullen
22) Dress A Girl Australia

For larger images of the items, please click here. For more details on the dress distribution, please click here or on the 'Dress Distribution' tab which can be found at the top of this page.

Thank you so much to Lyn Garrard of Save the Children Australia for her time and effort spent in organizing this distribution. My heartfelt thank you to Belinda Ritchie, Coordinator of Wilcannia NSW for her time and effort she will be spending in distributing these dresses to the children. Thank you so much ladies. I will not be able to share these goodies without your help. Much appreciated.

If you want to know more about the works of Save the Children Australia, please click here or check out their facebook page here.

Dress Distribution #18 - Dresses for the children in care of The Pyjama Foundation

Yes, I have done several distributions but it takes a while to identify the donors of the contents and the last few weeks hasnt really been of much help in sorting and figuring out contents of each parcel but has been a great help in making the distribution and sending of parcels possible. Now that I have completed the donation acknowledgements, it is time to move on for the dress distributions.

Number 18 on the list were two parcels of 100 dresses which I donated to the The Pyjama Foundation in NSW as christmas presents for the australian children under their care. The foundation offers a learning-based mentoring program free of charge to children in foster care through community volunteers they call the Pyjama Angels.

The two parcels were sent almost two weeks ago  and were received by Lisa O'Brien, their Sydney Coordinator. There will be no pictures available for this distribution due to privacy and legal reasons.

Here are the dresses that were in the parcel -

Heaps and heaps of thanks to the following donors for making this Christmas parcel possible -

1) Prudence Mann

2) Liz Lynzaat

3) Doris Beatty

4) Valda Ridley

5) Chicken Ink Creative sewn by Katherine Nott

6) The Sewing Library facebook group

7) Katherine Nott

8) Amanda Sampson sewn by Katherine Nott

9) Loris Pullen, Margaret Adair, Deborah Parish, Margaret Doecke,Veronica Martin,Delilah Balmer, Johanna Sawyer (Sewing Bee#3)

10) Ladies of Kapunda S.A. (Sewing Bee #4)

11) Linda Smyth

12) G Haggett

13) Sharyn Paull

14) Monika Osvald

15) Betty Barrett

16) Georgia Wood

17) Deborah Steed

18) Helen McMahon

19) Pam of Threading My Way

20) Jo Taunton

21) Soft Treasures

To see more of the donations or in larger images, please click here. Links to this article and any feedback will also be made available in the 'Dress Distribution' page which you can find at the top of this page and every other page.

Thank you everyone for your kindness and generosity. Thank you for helping make a difference in this world with one small dress at a time here in Australia.

If you want to know more about The Pyjama Foundation, please click here.

Angels for the Forgotten Charity Drive Update

The Christmas Stockings has now made its way to the Angels for the Forgotten charity organization. I could just imagine the glow of happiness on each child's face when they receive it.

Christmas Stockings for the Angels for the Forgotten Christmas Appeal

Dress A Girl Australia joined in the 'Sew for Charity Drive' of The Sewing Library facebook group. The drive is to collect as many Christmas Stockings one can make from the members of the group. These stockings are then donated to the Angels for the Forgotten Inc Christmas Appeal "Stockings Full of Joy" where they are aiming to distribute at least 3000 'Stockings full of joy' to Aussie children who will be in  Foster care or crisis accommodation this festive season.

Dress A Girl Australia donated 3 Christmas stockings one each from the designs which are available for sale at $10.00 for fund raising purposes. Each stocking is about 40cm long and is fully lined with a top fold where one can write the name of the little boy or girl recipient.

Dress A Girl Australia wishes these little Aussie kids a happy Christmas and hope will give joy to each of them who receives the Christmas stockings, bring a smile and sparkle to their faces.