Tuesday 18 October 2011

Shoe box appeal, do you do it?

Shoe boxes for Africa

23/11/2011

Tomorrow I've been invited to take part in the celebration day at the PACSEN facility in Pretoria. Parents of children with special needs.
http://www.firechildren.org/index.asp?child=children

I'm very privileged to be attending a celebration day, where the boxes will be handed out to the children.



October 2011

I always do a shoe box for Africa for Christmas from my children, in total I pack and wrap 5 every year and either drop them off at their school or the local library. And now we live in Africa I thought I should do them here as well. The 5 shoe boxes are in the process of being made up, a bit more shopping to do, drop off point located and we’re away.
This year I’ve also decided to get a little bit more involved and this evening I’ve been to Pretoria for a 90 minute training session to find out what I’ll be doing on ‘drop off’ day, next week. I met a lovely group of women and next Thursday, Friday and Saturday I’ll be at Crawford College where they are expecting nearly 2000 shoe boxes, which all have to be scanned, checked for *unsuitable items, sealed and put in cartons ready for collection.
I will be attending armed with selotape, scissors, string, marker pens, note pad, biros and as many cup cakes as I can bake for the volunteers and some good old reliable PG Tips
But that’s not the end of it, the boxes then have to be delivered and handed over to the various homes, hospitals and groups at a ‘Celebration Day’.
I shall keep you posted.

*unsuitable items
Toys that have political, racial or religious connotations, toy guns, knives (people often put pen knives in for older boys) and any symbols of war such as toy soldiers.
This year they are allowing liquids i.e. shampoos etc but these have to be put into a sealed plastic bag.
Unsuitable foods include chocolate, biscuits and crisps. It’s summer and these food items go off or get crushed as the boxes are moved.

Anything that is removed is replaced with a more suitable item, then the items collected are donated to other organisations. The food items are stored and used at the ‘Celebration Day’

It’s not too late to get involved check out @santashoebox for more information

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