Mom shipped a box to Haiti last week.
- 5 Wedding Gowns
- 16 Bridesmaid Dresses
- 4 Flower Girl Dresses
- 1 Mother of the Bride Dress
Thanks for your donations!
Dresses and Shorts
Donate Your Wedding Gowns and Formal Dresses to Haiti
Renting wedding gowns to brides for their big day provides income for Mdm. Bennison in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. In addition to renting out wedding dresses, she also sells formal dresses.
Mdm. Bennison
We’ve given dresses to her a number of times, but it’s been a while so we decided it’s time for another shipment to expand her inventory.
Here’s what we’re looking for.
Formal Gowns
- They must be current. No 1980s stuff that you find in the back of your closet. Life in Haiti might be a lot different that life in the US, but Haitian women have access to TV and Internet and they know what’s in and what isn’t. If you think it’s too out of style to wear, they probably will too.
- We’d love a set of bridesmaid dresses if anyone has multiples of the same dress.
Wedding Gowns
- Specifically larger sized wedding gowns (size 14+). Though we’ll take smaller ones if they are current.
We’ll be accepting donations throughout the month of February. Thanks for considering helping us out in this way.
Photo from the wedding of a wonderful guy (my interpreter for the week) that mom and I attended while in Haiti in 2015.
Contact us at 500dresses@gmail.com with any questions.
A Quick Update
Most of these dresses were donated by Pamela DeCuir from Florida. Thanks Pamela!
It’s been a while so I thought I should send a quick update to let you know what’s going on at 500 Dresses.
- This past summer we sent 2 boxes of dresses and shorts and 2 sewing machines to Togo, West Africa
- This fall we had the opportunity to send a suitcase filled with dresses to Haiti with a friend who went there on a mission trip.
- This fall we also sent 60 dresses and some Fabric with a missionary headed to Zambia.
- We are waiting on an update on the construction of the sewing school in Beudet, Haiti. Construction in Haiti doesn’t move quite as quickly as construction in the US. 🙂 When we have info on that I’ll pass it along.
As always, thank you for supporting this ministry.
Haiti Construction and Dresses Update
This week mom sent about 50 sundresses, several pairs of shorts and a few formal gowns to Haiti. She said it’s the first time a shipment has had zero dresses made by her. Thank you to all who have donated dresses.
We also sent $2500 to go toward the construction of Pastor Cadet’s multi-function vocational school building. I believe they need about $2500 more to complete the building. If you are interested in donating toward the school, you can write a check to 500 Dresses with vocational school in the memo.
As we get updates on the construction process, we’ll fill you in here on the blog.
Dresses in Peru
My Aunt Ella had the opportunity to deliver some dresses to these cute kids in Peru a few months ago. Â As always, thank you for continuing to support this ministry and allowing us to ship dresses and supplies around the world.
500 Dresses Change of Address
Because I (Kim) move more than the average person, mom and I have decided 500 Dresses would run more smoothly if donations were shipped to her instead of me. Corey and I just completed our 10th move in 17 years of marriage. I’m not sure if that is impressive or insane, but whatever it is, it’s my life 🙂
From now on, our shipping address will be 500 Dresses, c/o Jan Nelson, 680 1st St. NE, Britt, Iowa 50423.
Our Dresses Made it to India
We received a message from the missionary who took some of our dresses to India. They made it and are ready to be distributed. Here’s the email we received.
The clothes have reached India. Thank you very much. They are lovely!
I am working on getting them to the orphanages. It may take us a month or two to have someone go there or have the field leader visit Delhi, where the clothes are right now.
Again, appreciate your heart and the hard work.
Thanks again to all of you who help make it possible to send dresses and supplies around the world!
Easy Short Sleeve Dress and T-shirt Dress Tutorials
Adorable girls from an Indian orphanage wearing our dresses.
We would love to have some sleeved dresses (size 10 and up is best) for our inventory, and I found some simple tutorials to get you started if you are interested in serving 500 Dresses in this way.
All of the dresses that we ship to India must have sleeves, and we don’t often have a lot of notice before a shipment is to go out. We send our dresses to India via missionary luggage, so we don’t plan shipment dates. The more of you who donate sleeved dresses, the easier it will be for us to fill a suitcase when we are given an opportunity to ship to India.
Thanks for considering helping us out by trying out one of these dress styles!
Twirly T-Shirt Dress Tutorial (From craftycupboard.net)
T-Shirt Dress Tutorial (from jackandkate.com)
How to Make a T-shirt Dress (from thehappyhousewife.com)
Short Sleeve Peasant Dress Tutorial (from sewlikemymom.com)
Easy Shift Dress DIY Tutorial (from sewpetitegal.blogspot.com)
New Fabric Donations from New York
Thanks so much to Annette at Fabric Traditions in New York, NY for donating a box of awesome fabric. The colorful patterns will make super-cute sundresses!
Beans and Rice for 9 Families
Thanks so much to everyone who donated during our doll dress fundraiser. Between the donations and the matching funds we ended up with $230.
Enough to feed 8 Haitian families for a week!
Thanks for your participation. We do still have doll dresses available if you are interested, but will not be actively promoting them at this time.
Proverbs 19:17a He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord.
