Sponsors

We would like to thank the following sponsors for their support to date:

• Husqvarna Viking - distributors for Husqvarna sewing machines and overlockers www.husqvarnaviking.com
• Blessington Pty Ltd - distributors for Singer sewing machines www.singerco.com
• Hobbysew Australia Pty Limited - distributors for all sewing accessories. www.hobbysew.com
• Gutermann - distributors for sewing and embroidery thread. www.guetermann.com
• J. Leutenegger Pty Limited - distributors of cotton fabrics www.radda.com.au
• The Rotary Club of Epping NSW
• Helen Rose - retired editor of Australian Stitches Magazine

We need more sponsors, so if you can help please contact us. Our greatest need is for fabrics and money. The money is needed for freight and to partially assist the volunteer teachers. Often we have to also pay for a hall or suitable building to run the teaching program in.

Hand/electric Singer sewing machine

Singer have found a new machine for us which is ideal, in that it is portable and has both electric motor and hand wheel to operate it manually. It also is quite a modern machine with automatic stitches and button hole, so this will allow our ladies overseas to produce better quality and more saleable goods.

Donation of Bernina sewing machines

We are very fortunate to receive 18 Bernina machines donated to us by Tara Girls School in Sydney. These Bernina machines, although 20 years old, are free-arm automatics and will be greatly appreciated by our sewers in third world counties. Some of machines are model 830 Berninas featuring 20 automatic stitches which are a combination of practical and decorative designs, as well as automatic buttonhole. These stitches will greatly aid our micro-loan sewers to sew a higher standard of garment which will in turn bring in more dollars in the markets where they sell their goods.

These Swiss-made Bernina machines are not all in working order, but we will repair and fully service them and return them to full working operation. Carefully maintained, they will sew on for many years.

We do sincerely thank the management at Tara School for thinking about us and certainly these machines will be greatly appreciated by their new owners in countries such as Mongolia and Vanuatu.

Donation of fabrics

We have also kindly been given some fabric parcels from the following two people:

• Mr Ray Cross from Craftworx in Nth Mackay, Queensland. Thanks Ray!
• Ms Liana Noorman from Engadine in NSW. Many thanks Liana.

These excellent fabrics will be used in Vanuatu in our April project and we greatly appreciate your donation.

Cash donation

Sincere thanks also go to the Rotary Club of Burwood NSW, who donated $2,000 towards our Vanuatu project.

Donation of patterns

We also wish to sincerely thank Butterick-McCalls for their generous donation of sewing patterns in multiple sizes. Support such as this is most appreciated.

Freight donation

A very big thank you to Visa Australia and Managing Director, George Shirato for taking care of the freight of the sewing machines to Vanuatu. Believe it or not they actually arrived on Santo the very day we started the programme.