Stories

In a poor Roma community on the outskirts of Sarajevo, Bosnia, shoeboxes are speaking words of love and hope into the lives of hundreds of children this Christmas.

Our partners in Bosnia explain the amazing difference these shoeboxes are making in the lives of the children:

Peering out from behind the crooked door of her little house, Adrijana watches as a strange car pulls into her gypsy village in Zranjanin, Serbia. Small and barefooted she pads out to the arriving car, watching in confusion as brightly coloured shoeboxes are unloaded from the back seat.   

Arriving back from Belarus, Ian Taylor, explains the simple power of a shoebox.

“This photo sums up the excitement that the children show, delighted in their friends box, as much as their own as they explore their wonderful new gifts."

The orphanage is alive with noise; everywhere excited children are opening their shoeboxes. Cries of surprise fill the air as gift after gift is pulled out and shown off to others around. Amongst the colour and noise sits little Sasha, a huge smile beaming from her face.

How often do we laugh and say, “Wow, God really had a special purpose for that shoebox!”

This story is no exception and yet in many ways it’s even more amusing as for many of us, this little box may not have passed inspection.

The shoebox was the smallest the distributors had ever seen and to add to that it was plain and grey, no colourful Christmas designs decorated its outside. The little grey shoebox arrived at an orphanage in Belarus and during the distribution was handed to a small boy on crutches.

Samaritan’s Purse partner in Romania, Alina, gives the lowdown on shoeboxes arriving in her country.

12/2009

600 Krispy Kreme doughnuts have been sold by students at Kings College London to raise funds to pack shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. The team of second and third year students have been rallying support across the campus, encouraging students, lecturers and even security guards to join in the fun.

12,860 shoeboxes left Guildford warehouse last week, packed into a lorry destined for Bosnia. The busy team were over the moon, having reached their target by sending an extra 760 boxes. Area Coordinator, Carolyn Gercke sums up the special moment, “It was very moving to see our lorry load go from Guildford. This was the first time we’ve done that, so it was really exciting!”

Can you put a price on a shoebox? For 19 year old Andrea his shoebox was priceless, it not only brought exciting gifts but told him that he was loved.

Cheers of excitement filled the Melksham warehouse last week as the first load of shoeboxes, packed tightly into a lorry, left the busy site. Every year, volunteers from the surrounding area give up their time to help sort the thousands of gift-filled shoeboxes that arrive daily from across the South West. It’s a tiring job and yet the rewards are priceless.

Across the country, Shoe Zone has been recycling thousands of shoeboxes by handing them out to customers for Operation Christmas Child.

“I can’t imagine not receiving presents at Christmas time, I’d feel left out!” exclaims one student at St. Luke’s Primary School, East London. Carefully she pulls out the contents of her packed shoebox; toothbrush, toothpaste and her favourite, a little doll, were among some of the exciting gifts that filled the box.

“It’s busier than ever before!” exclaims Regional manager for Scotland, Chris Thomson, “We have walls lined with shoeboxes and cages packed full of them!” But thankfully Chris also has a fantastic team of volunteers, working long hours to collect and check each shoebox and get them packed for shipping overseas.

At the age of 89, Joan Hampton is registered blind and disabled. She rarely gets a chance to leave her house, but that doesn’t stop her from helping children overseas through Operation Christmas Child.

Kathleen Dover and her team of volunteers from the International Christian Fellowship endured a day of icy winds outside the Borehamwood Tesco superstore yesterday. Yet spirits were high as they encouraged hundreds of shoppers to take part in Operation Christmas Child.

Students from Bedford Primary School, Liverpool, are big supporters of Operation Christmas Child. Last year they had the chance to visit their local processing centre and saw first-hand how the shoeboxes are sorted by hundreds of volunteers, ready to be sent to children in countries like Swaziland. Check out what happened on their visit.

Jenny Frost, a teaching assistant at Beech Green Primary School in Quedgeley, Gloucester, designed herself a beautiful shoebox hat which she succeeded in wearing for an entire week, raising funds for her trip to deliver shoeboxes to children in Crimea this coming January.

From school assemblies, shopping at Tesco’s and a doctor’s appointment, Jenny collected money, smiles and funny looks for her outlandish new hat! 

Hilary McFall and her team at Melksham warehouse got off to a flying start as they launched Operation Christmas Child 2009 in their local region. Last year the busy team collected 35,356 shoeboxes and this year they’re determined to see even more shoeboxes sent to children in countries like Liberia.

In Newry, Northern Ireland, the local shopping centre is in for a treat this month as a giant shoebox, complete with giant gifts, is on display. The oversized items are generating plenty of excitement as early Christmas shoppers are finding themselves getting involved with wrapping and packing their own shoeboxes.