“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.
On one collection at a local school, the drivers were greeted by the whole school and ushered into the assembly hall where the boxes were stored. Before the pupils handed over the boxes every child gave their box one last cuddle, sending it on its way with lots of love.
For the last 9 years, the warehouse in East Dumbartonshire has been alive with activity over the months of November and December, with streams of volunteers from 10 – 75 years of age visiting the site to support Operation Christmas Child. Last year alone over 156 volunteers passed through the doors!
With all these volunteers, Chris is aiming for the first load of shoeboxes to be on its way to Eastern Europe by the end of November. A BIG thank you to all of you across Scotland who have wrapped, packed and sorted shoeboxes in 2009, thanks to your help there will be thousands of smiles lighting up children’s faces this Christmas.