Many pitch in to help pack Rotary shoeboxes
HUNDREDS of boxes full of gifts are being checked and packed ready for distribution in Eastern Europe.
For decades, the Rotary Guernesiais Shoebox Appeal has organised for thousands of boxes to be sent from Guernsey, providing what is in many cases the only gift the disadvantaged children will get at Christmas.
The week-long exercise of checking all the boxes for unsuitable items and packing them into cartons ready to be shipped comes to an end at 7pm on Saturday.
‘Last year we sent off 4,485 shoeboxes so this year we’d love to break the 5,000 barrier,’ said organiser of the Rotary Guernesiais shoebox appeal Hannah Laidlow.
‘We’ve got lots of helpers, from the Rotary Club, Inner Wheel, U3A and independent volunteers – I am so grateful to everybody who has pitched in and everyone who has made up boxes.’
Helping to check that boxes did not contain liquids or sharp items was club patron Lady Corder.
‘This is my fourth year lending a hand. It’s a really good cause and it’s lovely to see what the island is sending off to the children,’ she said.
‘Some of the staff from Government House have started coming along as well.’
She encouraged islanders to get involved with the appeal to help reach the target.
Once the boxes are packed into cartons, which were sponsored by Specsavers, the Guernsey Fire and Rescue Service will load them onto a lorry for Channel Seaways to take them, free of charge, to the UK.
From there they will be transported to Eastern Europe and, at the start of December, Mrs Laidlow will fly out to help the Rotary clubs distribute the boxes.
‘I have seen lots of poor places and people living in real poverty, it’s great to know you can give them something at Christmas, it might even be their only present.’
n For more information visit https://www.rotary-ribi.org and search for the shoebox appeal
