In recent months we’ve given a few updates on progress being made by Project HOPE Art and their handmade dress drive. As of our most recent update last October, the group had received 143 Popover Sundresses to deliver to orphanages in Haiti. This was almost five times the original goal of 30!
Well, your generosity didn’t stop there and then. Kathy Barbro tells us today that Project HOPE Art has now received almost 400 dresses, with more continuing to arrive!
Project HOPE Art has delivered the first 300 dresses to Haiti, along with many other items of clothing and footwear, and Kathy has posted a wonderful album of photos from the trip on Facebook.
Kathy writes:
Before returning home [from our first trip to Haiti] we asked some of the girls at Nadine’s orphanage what they’d like us to bring on our next trip. It’s important to note that it’s part of our mission to hand deliver any aid we collect as it is the only sure way to get it to the children. On every trip, we each carry the 70 lbs. allowed by the airlines. Clothing topped every wish list which was hardly a surprise as most of the girls were wearing tattered dresses and worn flip-flops. They needed dresses and Mimi came up with a plan.
Knowing I’m an experienced sewer, she asked me to take the lead and find a simple downloadable dress pattern and to do a blog post to see if I could raise some volunteers. Our goal was to get 30 dresses made for the girls at Nadine‘s. I located a free pattern for a simple but very pretty sundress, compliments of Oliver+S at oliverands.com. On September 1st I posted “Homemade Dress Drive For Haiti.”
The response overwhelmed us. Moms and daughters, and girl scout troops and classrooms, from as far away as Australia, answered the call and spread the word to others. In January, four members made the trip and delivered 300 homemade sundresses and a bounty that included new undergarments, flip-flops, sunglasses, hats and even 20 tutus.
We’ve already received nearly 100 more sundresses and additional accessories for an April return. And I’m just thrilled to be going back in July.
The Homemade Dress Drive for Haiti is an ongoing campaign of Project HOPE Art. For more information, please visit us at projecthopeart.org.
If you would like to sew and donate a Popover Sundress, you may download the free pattern with this link. Thanks to all of you who have done so already!