Mission to Haiti

500 Dresses and Haiti Sewing School Update

/ Kim Harms / Leave a comment
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Some our our 2018 sewing school students

It’s been quite a while since I’ve written an update, but 500 Dresses is still plugging away.

Here’s a look at what we’ve done (with your help) over the past few months.

  • Sent 5 wedding gowns to the Bridal rental business in Port au Prince.
  • Sent 5 formal gowns to the Bridal rental business in Port au Prince.
  • Sent tulle overlays for wedding dress skirts that were requested by the Bridal rental business in Port au Prince. (Mom made these.)
  • We are also still sending sundresses with short-term mission teams to various places when we have the chance.
  • Donated $1500 to Mission to Haiti to go toward the construction of the sewing school where I taught in 2012 and mom and I taught at together in 2014 and again in 2018.

 

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Current Sewing School (the building on the right is Pastor Cadet’s house.)

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Future home of sewing school.

 

The cost to complete the next phase (one large classroom) of the sewing school (more classrooms will be added as funds allow) is $4000. As of August, the school had $1000 saved for this. Add in the $1500 500 Dresses sent this fall, and they’ve got $1500 to go. If you desire to donate toward this project, just write sewing school in the memo of your check.

Construction is slow in Haiti. Some projects take years to complete because they only build as funds allow, and funds tend to be scarce. We’d love to see Pastor and Mdm. Cadet be able to move from their open air tarp covered school to a solid building with walls and a roof.

And the Winners Are…

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quilts

…Sharon Sweers (ISU quilt) and Shelly Olsan (Ballard quilt)

Thank you to all who donated toward our trip and to all of you who are praying for us.

We will head to Haiti on July 21 and return on July 28.

Mom has started planning sewing classes. We’ll be making backpacks. But before we go she’s going to have to teach me how to make them (because I’m not fantastic at sewing 🙂 )

Corey and the boys will be fixing and remodeling a building on the Mission to Haiti campus that was damaged during the earthquake several years ago.

I’m excited that my boys have the opportunity to experience a world very different from their own and to serve Jesus in a tangible way working alongside their dad. #blessedmama

$1100 for the Sewing School in Haiti

/ Kim Harms / 8 Comments

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We have $1100 to send to Pastor Cadet for the construction of a building for his sewing school in Haiti 🙂

That means that he will be just $230 short of his anticipated need for the project. We plan to send our donation in two weeks, so if you have any interest in adding to that $1100 number before then, let us know. The donation will be sent through Mission to Haiti, and the funds will be dispersed to Pastor Cadet throughout the project.

Thanks so much to everyone who has donated toward this very worthwhile project!

A Thank You from Haiti

/ Kim Harms / Leave a comment

My posts here have been few and far between because I am dealing with some health issues (and will be for a while) so you’ll have to bear with me. But I wanted to post this thank you we received from Pastor Cadet after working with his students in Haiti.  It was a great week 🙂

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I let you know that the Staff
> Manager and the sewing course students in Beudet say
> thank-you to you for the week of training that they received
> and also the ladies for the cooking training. we enjoy
> this  time to thank and greet  our two trainers.
> the young students really appreciated their way of teaching.
> they are Mrs KIM and Mrs JAN NELSON. We think that this good
> training will help the young to find their bearings in their
> social and spiritual life.
>
>  We would like to have another kind of activity like this as
> soon as possible in 2016. May God bless you all !!

Donate Your Wedding Dress (Large Sizes Only)

/ Kim Harms / 1 Comment

IMG_5486Do you have a large wedding dress taking up space in your closet or know of someone who does?

We are in need of wedding dresses (size 12 and up)  to ship to Haiti. Though the Dorcas Ministry Shop has closed its doors, Madame Benison still rents out wedding gowns and sells formals gowns through a room on the Mission to Haiti campus.

Mdm. Bennison

Mdm. Bennison

This endeavor supplies her with a regular income, and she provides an excellent service for brides in Port au Prince. During the one week my mom and I spent in Haiti, we saw her do fittings with 2 customers.

She currently has a large number of small dresses, but very few large sizes, so she has had to turn people away.

Donations can be sent us at 500 Dresses c/o Kim Harms, 314 Centennial Dr., Huxley, IA 50124

As always, thank you for your support of this ministry!

Thoughts On Child Sponsorship

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“Hello, how are you?”

When I had the opportunity to spend a little time with Lucson while in Haiti last month, he greeted me in English.

Pleasantly surprised, I asked him why he decided to learn English.

“So I can speak to you,” he said.

That was about the extent of his English (the rest of our conversation was held through a translator) but wow.

Just wow.

There I stood with my arms full of gifts I brought to give to this boy we sponsor through Mission to Haiti, and he, with nothing in his arms, gave me something much bigger than the soccer ball, the book, the clothes and the food I had for him.

He’s learning a new language so he can communicate with the American woman who has shown up on his island only twice in his 14 years.

That, my friends, is just a little bit humbling.

My hope for Lucson is that he will continue to improve his English, not simply so he can speak to me when I show up down there again in a few years, but so a world of opportunities will open up to him.

But infinitely more important than learning English, he is also learning about Jesus.

And I know that one day in Heaven, our native languages won’t matter. We’ll be able to hang out and speak whatever language it is that citizens of heaven speak, and the gifts we give to each other here on earth will pale in comparison to the gift of eternal life that we will enjoy together.

If you don’t already, I urge you to consider sponsoring a Haitian child. You can learn more about it at Mission to Haiti.

Needed: Sewing Supplies for Haiti

/ Kim Harms / Leave a comment
Photo courtesy of Mister GC at freedigitalphotos.net

Photo courtesy of Mister GC at freedigitalphotos.net

We are heading to Haiti in less than a month and are still taking sewing supply donations to use during the classes we will be teaching, and to donate to the vocational school for future use. Below is a list of suggested times

  • Fancy Fabric – satins, taffeta (anything you might make a bridesmaid or flowergirl dress out of.) We can take smaller pieces, but would prefer to have lengths of at least 4 yards.
  • hook and eyes and/or snaps
  • zippers
  • good quality thread
  • needles, both for machines and hand-sewing
  • sewing scissors
  • seam rippers
  • binding material and/or prepackaged seam binding
  • tape measures
  • rotary cutting board and rotary cutters
  • straight pins
  • misc. sewing supplies
  • cash donations to purchase new items

In addition, the head of the vocational school is interested in a serger sewing machine. If anyone happens to  have one of these they’d like to donate or knows of a way we could purchase one inexpensively, please let me know.

Feel free to email me at 500dresses@gmail.com if you have any questions. Thanks!

 

Sewing In Haiti

/ Kim Harms / Leave a comment

Boy sewing

This boy was one of our students on the last mission trip to Haiti. This time around mom and I will teach a small group of more advanced students. Mom is working on lesson plans for a halter-type bridesmaid dress and a bag that will incorporate practice with zippers and binding. (Then she’s gonna have to teach me, so I can help her teach the students 🙂 )

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh. Rather, serve one another humbly in love. Galatians 5:13.

How You Can Support Us In Our Haiti Trip

/ Kim Harms / Leave a comment

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Mom and I are heading to Haiti on November 14. We will be staying on the campus of Mission to Haiti in Port-au Prince, and will spend our week teaching sewing to a small group of vocational students in Beudet.

I am excited that mom is coming along for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that we will likely be working only on treadle machines. (If you want to know how well I get along with treadle sewing machines you can check out this old post from my last trip to Haiti – The Treadle Battle.)

People have asked how they can help us, pray for us, support us… Below I am listing a variety of ways you can join us in our adventure.

Provide Supplies – We will each take 2 checked bags which we will stuff with as many sewing supplies as possible; both for use in our classes and to leave for the women to use after we have gone. Here’s what we are looking for:

  • Fancy Fabric – satins, taffeta (anything you might make a bridesmaid or flowergirl dress out of.) We can take smaller pieces, but would prefer to have lengths of at least 4 yards.
  • hook and eyes and/or snaps
  • zippers
  • good quality thread
  • needles, both for machines and hand-sewing
  • sewing scissors
  • seam rippers
  • binding material and/or prepackaged seam binding
  • tape measures
  • rotary cutting board and rotary cutters
  • straight pins
  • misc. sewing supplies

Prayers

  • travels – that we make our connecting flights and our luggage arrives with us (When Corey and I went in 2012, our luggage decided to come a day late, and we absolutely should have missed a connecting flight, but God chose to show us how big he is by getting us on the plane.)
  • health
  • the ability to teach in a way the students can understand
  • to be able to successfully use treadles – Mom is practicing on her old machine 🙂
  • that the devotions I will be writing to present at the beginning of each class will be understandable and reach the students for Christ.
  • that my hubby and three boys will survive a week without me 😉

Financial – If you are interested in providing support financially either to defray the costs of our trip, or to cover the expense of supplies we will need to purchase, you can send a check made out to 500 Dresses, to Kim Harms, 314 Centennial Dr. Huxley, IA, 50124 (These donations are not tax-deductible, as 500 Dresses is not an official NPO.) Make note in the memo line what you would like the donation to be used for.)

Thanks so much in advance for your prayers and support. We’ll keep you updated as we learn more info about the trip.

 

Haiti Bound

/ Kim Harms / 2 Comments

haitibiound copy

Mom and I are heading to Haiti in November. Yay!!

We don’t have a lot of details yet, but we think we will be teaching sewing classes to vocational school students in Port-au-Prince through Mission to Haiti.

We will also be attending and probably helping to prepare for Brunel’s wedding, which will be held on November 20. (You may remember this summer we asked for donations toward the cost of a marriage license for Brunel. We were able to send him $100.)

Brunel and his fiance

Brunel and his fiance

We’ll let you know more about the trip when we have more details, but in the meantime, you can start praying for us (and for Corey who will play mom and dad while I’m gone for the week. I predict much pizza and ice-cream will be consumed and very little laundry will make it into the washing machine.)