Little Dresses for Africa » changing lives one little dress at a time

Dear Precious Supporters of Little Dresses for Africa,

         First of all, you blow we away!  Your dedication to these children is to be commended.  It just humbles me and everyone that sees what you do!  A simple personal goal to take 1000 dresses to the Village of Ntcheu has turned into a machine of love that keeps rolling and rolling and picking up steam!  In the last two weeks we have received over 3400 dresses!  In two weeks! 

         As many of you know, I have some volunteers that come to my house to unpack, size and ready these dresses and shorts for shipping with mission teams, by way of the Postal Service and in duffle bags for the team leaving in 3 weeks.  The magnitude of this project is almost overwhelming, until you remember that God has blessed this project and he will see us through.  It is by faith that we press forward.

        As we hear back from the different countries that are receiving them, it is obvious to us that we are ready to refine our efforts.  Most of you are sending them already packaged and trust me, that is a HUGE help.  Also many of you are sending checks from  your churches or personally to help with shippnig costs…again, huge help!  Now, it is time to move to the next step.  We used to package them individually until we found out from West Africa that it just adds to their problem in distributing them.  Now we put several in a bag according to size. Not a bad idea for passing them out but since our sizes are not their sizes, we have decided to go to the next step:  From now on the sizing can me marked in the following way:

Small- sizes 2, 3 and 4

Medium- sizes 5,6 and 7

Large- sizes 8,9 and 10

Xtra Large- above size 11

Boys shorts or t-shirts

If you want to just put a S, M, L or XL on the ziploc bags it will be incredibly easier for us to get them in the boxes to go out to the kids.  We are so grateful for your help and hope you don’t think I”m getting too picky.  In order to be able to keep this project going, I just have to get more efficient.  Other changes will be coming soon I’m sure as we streamline for efficiency.  As some of you know, I’m still working full time and we have a small team of volunteers to get this completed.  On behalf of all of them, we thank you so much. 

As always, please put your name and address inside the box so we can know who these gifts come from.  Thank you so much for your help.  Please remember to mark your calendars for our BIG fund raiser Dinner Dance and Live Auction, “Changing Lives Here and Across the Ocean”,  Saturday, November 13, 2010 in Wyandotte, MI. Donations of quilts, handmade jewelry, items that you all make, are really needed to make this happen.  Thank you all SOOOOOOOOO much.  Love you, Rachel

Joann’s 2010 “Craft for a Cause” Contest Aug.15-OCt.30,2010 Hello fellow volunteers of “Little Dresses for Africa”, My name is Veronica Fay, and I just wanted to share some important information with you that might win $50,000 ,$25,000 or $10,000 for Little Dresses for Africa. Joann’s fabric/craft store is sponsoring a contest that has just opened where volunteers who create and donate “crafts” for charity can enter one of their projects. The project is judged on its quality, creativeness, and how it best meets the needs of that charity. Joann’s will choose 5 individaul winners who will each receive a $1,5000 gift card from Joanns. More importantly, however, is that the charities that have the most projects entered will be in a run off vote…the public will be able to go to Joann.com and vote for their favortie charity. Voting ends Dec. 4,2010. The 3 most popular charities will win $50,000 $25,000 or $10,000 from Joann’s for their cause. All the information and rules are listed at :www.Joann.com/craftforacause But here are some of the basics: *One entry per person: no group entries *Entry must be done on line *all supplies must be bought from Joann’s and you will have to scan your receipt *3 photos must be uploaded : the entire project, front, and back *release form must be signed… so Joann’s has “rights” to project( owns it) *kits and patterns may be used as long as person does not receive extra help * Minors may enter but must have parent “sign” application/release form too If everyone who has donated dresses would make just 1 more special dress with Joann supplies and submit an entry, I think we will be able to make “Little Dresses for Africa” the most popular charity and win some money for this noble cause. I just bought material, thread and supplies for my special dress yesterday( Simplicity now make 2 different pillow case dresses and short sets patterns) and took advantage of their sale… if you sign up for their mailer, you can get discount coupons , and I think you may be able to get coupons on line too? I plan to submit my dress, and I hope everyone else will do the same. We can capture the vote if we all work togther Please pass this information along to all your friends. Veronica Fay

Michael and Amanda O'Neill

Thank you to all of you who wished my son a beautiful wedding.  Your wishes came true.  It was a lovely day and we are so grateful.  While my friends were in, we took the opportunity to open the 60+ boxes that had arrived so you will be getting your acknowlegement soon. 

We are now on the countdown for our trip September 17th.  Please pray for our team as we submit to serving the most vulnerable of God’s children. 

Little Dresses for Africa meets this week at 7pm at my house.  Please come and help if you are in this area.  We need you!!! 

Thanks and love!

Rachel

Hello, Precious Sewers! 

I need your patience for a bit!  Thank you for all the beautiful dresses and more and more shorts that are coming in every day!  I love them and the kids are going to be delighted!   For the last 3 years, I’ve opened the packages as they arrive, almost the same day, and written a thank you note/receipt, the next day or so.  I have to admit, with the growth of this organization, it is getting to be a challenge.  I love it and I’m doing my best to keep up, but my son will be married next week and with all the wedding preparations and family coming in, not to mention the upcoming trip to Africa, things are not on schedule.  I’m asking for your patience until after we get back from Africa. 

When you ship boxes, please put your name and address on a sheet inside the box or package, if at all possible.  Also, thanks to all of you who are sizing and putting the dresses in 2 gallon ziploc bags.  I can’t tell you what a help it is.  I get from 10-14 boxes a day and it really cuts down on our work if you can do this!  Thank you all so much!

September 17, 2010 is our trip and things are moving along very well.  Thank you to all of you who have sent checks or donated on line for the projects.  We are getting there!  God does provide!  Thank you for being the hands and feet of Jesus to these precious children!

Love, Rachel

Because of the overwhelming amount of dresses and shorts received, we will be having an extra work night at my house this week.  Thursday, the 12th at 7pm.  Please join us!!  I’m also looking for a building or storage place that we can put things, so that they can be worked on while I’m at my “day”job!  Ask around and  thanks!! Rachel

Donations are starting to come in and once again I am reminded, “The Lord PROVIDES!”   Thank you, Jennifer from Illinois for the donation on line today for VBS supplies and crafts!  Love it!

Thank you to all those who participated in the “Covered in Psalms” hand-stitched quilt, that was auctioned to raise money for the Malawi 2010 trip!  Our winner at the close of the auction, July 31st, is Karen Vitale.  She is a big supporter of Little Dresses, and once again we are indebted to her generosity.  Thank you, Karen.  May you feel the love that was stitched in this quilt by Carol Damron and her “Quilter” friends.  

Karen shown her with her beautiful "win"!

We received some really beautiful hand-stitched necklaces last week from a very special volunteer, Marie.   The pictures show the beautiful necklaces that she makes out of scraps of material when her daughter, Annette, makes little dresses.  This mother and daughter team will surely make a big difference, when we deliver these beautiful necklaces to the care-givers in Malawi this fall.  They also brought us knitted new born baby hats which will help in regulating body temperature for the new borns.  We will be working in the Crisis Nursery Center in September, and I can’t wait to ses these on the babies. Thank you so much to Marie and Annette and to  all of you who make this ministry so beautiful.  It’s things like this that show the love that is given every day to these kids across the ocean!  Thanks and love, Rachel

Thank you to Metro South Church for hosting our Malawi 2010 Spaghetti Dinner Fund Raiser. We were able to raise, after costs, $1250 for the trip in September. Good job, team! Thanks also to Chad, Tina and Dave for providing the “Metro” sound. Team mate, Conne Kovach, outdid herself once again with an amazingly organized and delicious dinner, as we invited the community in and continued to raise awareness of the plight of the kids in Africa. Thank you!

We especially appreciate Bank of America for their community involvement both at our work night last Thursday and also for serving at the Spaghetti Dinner.  LDFA was presented with a check donation for the trip in addition to their service.  We are indebted to them and send  our warmest thanks to the Goddard Road Banking Center in Taylor, Michigan

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Another shout out to Joyce for the bid on the quilt! The high bid right now is $137. Only 4 more days to bid! Be sure to get your bids in before July 31, 2010.

Thank you for sending your mission teams to the website to contact us to take dresses to their host villages as they travel. We sent out 8 boxes to Washington this morning that will make their way to Malawi and tonight we are sending a car load of boxes to a team leaving for Kenya in October. I have plenty, thanks to all of you and encourage you to talk to your churches and get these dresses to the kids as they travel.

I’m also noticing more donations on the webpage for projects and team members who are traveling. Thank you to all of the generous supporters of this cause. Shipping costs are a challenge but with you working as the hands and feet of Jesus, we will get it done! We have received some really beautiful dresses this month and we’re seeing more and more of them sized and packaged. That is so helpful and we are so grateful. Thank you!!!

Don’t forget to mark your calendars to save the date for Saturday, November 13, 2010, for our Dinner Dance and Live Auction. We are working on some exciting sponsors for this year’s event and you will be blown away. Please be thinking about what you might have to donate as an auction piece. I can take it from now until the auction date. Things to consider are quilts, home made blankets or baby items, art, jewelry, and no telling what all! We really appreciate your help with this. I’ll keep you posted as the date gets closer.

September is coming fast. Thank you all for your continued support. I can’t wait to bring you pictures of the children wearing your dresses!

Love and gratitude,
Rachel

If you’re in the area, and you can come by, we’d love to have you at the Spaghetti Dinner Fund Raiser. This delicious dinner will be offered for $8 adults, $5 kids and a family pack price at $25, suggested donation. The incredibly talented Metro Band will offer music while we eat and there will be very cool items offered for the Silent Auction. All proceeds go for the Malawi 2010 trip scheduled in September 2010. Let me know if you want me to hold you some tickets. We have room and noodles for 200. Please come and join us! Remember, you can donate to the different projects for the trip right here on line! Zikomo!!!! Love, Rachel