As you probably know if you’ve followed this blog or any of my social media accounts, back in 2018 I worked for Amazon Web Services and I had the idea to sew myself an AWS dress to wear to tech events around the world. It was so popular, my colleagues even made t-shirts and stickers! In 2023 I raised the bar with the AWS dress v2, which had matching sneakers.

As of 2024 though, I’m retired and it seems a bit silly to hang on to these dresses. Why not turn them into something fun and raise money for an important cause? So the dresses have become 14 Smart, Sensational, Sun-Protecting (S3) Bucket Hats, and you can win one by donating to this fundraiser.

Dementia is a terrible disease that has affected our family in recent years. It really, really sucks to watch someone you know and love just change and disappear. I’d like to help other families going through this, and hopefully even work towards a cure.

To do that I need your help! Please make a donation to support my efforts and help me reach my goal to beat dementia. You can donate through:

1. My Facebook fundraising page
2. My standalone Dementia Australia fundraising page
3. Or if neither of those options work for you, feel free to donate to a dementia-related charity in your own country*.

All funds raised (through channels 1 and 2 above) will support the work of Dementia Australia to provide vital support services for people living with dementia, their families and carers. These services include counselling, support groups, education and training.

For every $25 AUD* you donate, you’ll get one entry into a raffle for one of the 14 hats. I will draw the winners at random on November 1st, 2024, and I will cover postage anywhere in the world. Please make sure you are contactable if you win! You can donate as many times as you’d like but you can only win one hat, and you don’t get to choose which one you get. (They’re all the same size anyway.)

* If you donate via option 3, please email me a screenshot of your donation and I will ensure you are entered into the draw. You’ll get 1 entry for the equivalent of $25 AUD in your own currency.

Disclaimers: Obviously I don’t work for AWS anymore, and I don’t claim ownership over their logo or any of their service icons. The hats were made by me from the dresses I wore as part of my employment for AWS, and I won’t ever be making any more. If I can’t contact you within a week, I reserve the right to draw a new name and send the hat to somebody else.

Thank you for your support.

PS for the sewists: if you’re curious about the pattern I used you can download it for free here! Each hat is fully lined, which means I actually had to sew 28 hats (30 if you count the prototype I made). 😅