Today we packed 1700 kits for Zimbabwe!

Last week at our monthly Third Thursday DfG workday, a beautiful gal who was serging pulled me aside and said, “I need to talk to you.”  I immediately recognized her South African accent, and was thrilled to meet her.  Her name is Lynne Powers.  She told me about her friends and an organization called Eyes4Zimbabwe.  Her friends are 3 PGA golfers from the European Tour who have organized am NGO, and they do boatloads of humanitarian work in Zimbabwe.  In fact, she said, “they have 10 forty-foot containers leaving Salt Lake this week.”  I started getting excited.  Then she asked, “would it be possible to send some DfG kits to Zimbabwe?”  I said “of course!  How many can we send?”  She asked for 500.  Friday we started preparing and packing 500 kits.

Last night these 3 LDS golfers had a fireside in West Jordan.  I wanted to meet them face to face and thank them for helping us get kits to girls who need them.  Pictured below are are Lorette Maritz, South Africa’s top lady golf professional, Reeve A. Nield golfer from Zimbabwe, and Cecilie Lundgreen, from Norway.  There is a glow around them as they tell stories about the work they are doing to help those in need.

Last night, after visiting with them and showing them a sample kit, they were excited and let us know they have plenty of room for more kits.  I didn’t sleep much last night, and got up early this morning to start packing more.  Today 1200 more kits went into boxes, making a total of 1700 in 45 large boxes.  This afternoon it took 2 large suburbans and a trailer to haul them all to the warehouse where the containers will be loaded this week.  As we drove home, we couldn’t help ourselves.  We decided to send another 200.  There is room.  There are girls who need these and we have a way to get them to those girls.  We can make more for the other who are waiting.  There are always more waiting, and there are always more willing to help.

We also have an opportunity to send supplies to the DfG Sewing Center in Zimbabwe.  We’re sending PUL (the waterproof fabric), 10 sewing machines (hand crank), scissors, spools of drawstring tape, a box of thread and more.  It’s pretty exciting to watch how the way opens before us.  Miracles happen every day around here.  This is one of those miracles.  But now we must go to work to replenish our supplies.  We could use your help.  Please send any donations to Days for Girls Utah Valley at 24 West 500 South, Orem, UT  84058.  Every penny will go towards fabric to sew into these beautiful, life-changing kits.

Learm more about Eyes4Zimbabwe here:  http://eyes4zimbabwe.org/

Gino Rich helps us outfit old sewing machines with hand cranks.  Read about him here: SewMuchHope.org  or http://beehivestartups.com/blog/changing-world-one-sewing-machine-time/