LDFA 2009 Winter Update

Dear Friends of Little Dresses for Africa,

I wanted to send an update to those people who have helped to make the dream of Little Dresses for Africa a reality.  Without you, it would have remained “just another good idea”.  With your help, we have received close to 30,000 little dresses and several hundred britches for boys, and boxes continue to arrive almost daily.  With your help we have been able to send items over with mission groups and pay for their extra bag costs.  We have been able to mail dresses to schools and orphan groups in Africa. The dresses and donations have come from 39 states across the USA and it continues to grow.  To God Be The glory!  Thank you for listening to His call and touching so many lives.  Seriously!  Picture 30000 little girls!  That’s a lot of kids, to feel in their hearts, for maybe the first time that they are worthy. To date we have distributed dresses in 10 countries of Africa. 

 For those of you receiving this letter from a friend, Little Dresses for Africa is a non-profit Christian organization which makes little dresses from pillow cases and distributes them through the orphanages in Africa, to plant in the hearts of little girls that they are worthy.  Please see www.littledressesforafrica.org for a pattern or details on how you can help. Some sew. Some donate. Some go to Africa and some pass the message on to others! We would love to have your help.  Please check the website for updates and messages.  And, by the way, you may notice our website has a brand new look, thanks to a team of dedicated volunteers who donated the template and their time to set it up. I’m always happy to update it with pictures and stories. If you have been part of a sewing project or trip to distribute dresses, please send me updates to post on the site.  

 There is hardly a day that goes by that I don’t receive a box or package from all over the US containing beautiful little dresses for the girls.  It continues to thrill me when I open them and feel the love that you have put into those dresses.  I can feel it as I see your work and I am so grateful to be part of this ministry. I am convinced that these dresses change lives here and across the ocean.  This ministry crosses age and gender barriers, denomination barriers, and geographic barriers, in the name of the only one that brings real hope: Jesus.   

With this incredible growth comes an almost overwhelming sense of obligation to make sure these dresses get to the girls. At times I wonder how I can keep up with your generosity.  But, with the help of all of you and God’s blessing on this ministry, I continue to receive requests from all over Africa for dresses and we continue to be supplied with the means to get them there! Please continue to spread the word so that we can continue to bless others with this ministry. Also, please have your mission teams contact me to take some dresses with their teams going.  It is the best way to make sure these dresses get right to the children.  I can mail them to your teams domestically much easier than internationally so be thinking of who might be able to receive them and take them to the children for distribution.  

To continue to finance the shipping and associated costs, each year we do one major fund raiser. This year our fund raiser was “Sending Hope Dinner and Live Auction”. Col. Tim Ryan graciously offered come from South Carolina to host the auction and it was a fantastic evening.  With the help of our corporate sponsors, our donors of auction items, our auctioneer, our workers and volunteers, our ticket sales and the prayers and checks from so many of you we raised enough money to keep shipping these precious dresses to the kids for several months.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.  It takes all of us!

There are so many clever people working together to make this happen. We are delighted with a commitment from Kalahari African Themed Water Resort, to help us raise money and continue to spread the word about what we are doing. They have offered to construct a permanent Little Dresses for Africa Hut which will be used to explain our project as well as get their visitors involved in making dresses as a craft on site. Another volunteer right here in Michigan, makes pillow case dolls and sells them and sends the checks to Little Dresses for Africa. Another very innovative idea to raise money for shipping costs was suggested by a volunteer in New Jersey.  She and her husband are selling gourmet cookies Gourmet cookies for LDFA!in their café and sending the profits to Little Dresses for Africa.  The little card insert is a very clever way to spread the word as well as raise money for associated costs of getting the dresses to the children.  Keep your ideas coming! These are just a few examples of some great ideas! Let me know yours! 

Along with the distribution of dresses we are beginning to develop a curriculum of simple Bible studies and family skill lessons to go along with these dresses as they are distributed. We often say, “We’re not just sending dresses…we’re sending HOPE.”  We want to ensure that the message of Jesus is delivered with each item that goes to the children.  If you have suggestions or contacts that will help us with the development of the curriculum, we welcome your input. Maybe you know a simple hands-on project that teaches hope and worthiness.  Send me your ideas! 

It is our hope that we will return to Africa late next summer or early fall.  If you are interested in being part of a team, please let me know and I will keep you informed of our plans.  The trip will consist of conducting Bible Camps, visiting the patients suffering from AIDS to pray over them and encourage their care-givers, feeding the children, working in the schools and of course to distribute the little dresses to the children in the villages.  This type of trip can change your life forever.  

Thank you SO much for your help in this continuing project.  You are part of something that is bigger than all of us.  A very small idea has turned into a way to bless thousands and thousands of little girls and their care-givers.  God bless your good works or as they say in Chichewa, “Mulungu Akudalitseni!” 

Love and Happy Holidays,

Rachel