Sherbz Does Christmas Child Shoeboxes 

Sherbet Donkey’s Shoebox Donations 2023 

Our team at Sherbz decided to get behind the Christmas Shoebox appeal this year and between us, we have produced 13 boxes to take to the local collection centre in Bromsgrove.

We hope our shoeboxes will bring a bit of Christmas cheer to some children who are living in difficult situations as we prepare for our own Christmas festivities ahead.  

What is Operation Christmas Child? 

The organisation began in the UK in 1990 when Dave Cooke and his wife Jill from Wrexham wanted to do something about the plight of Romanian orphans at the end of the Cold War. Dave’s sister, Jan, came up with the idea of a form of Christmas ‘stocking’ wrapped and transportable as a message of hope for these children. The couple put out a local radio appeal for blankets, toys and medical supplies and the local community responded, filling seven lorries – just under 3,000 shoebox gifts.  

Bosnia 1995 

It began to grow and became an official project of Samaritan’s Purse in 1995, which is an organisation that helps to bring aid relief, clean water, support to women at risk as well as the Christmas shoebox appeal.  

Since 1990 more than 178 million children in more than 150 countries have received an Operation Christmas Child shoebox – for many kids, it is their first gift ever. There are around 1,000 drop-off locations open each year in the national collection week and each shoebox is sent to one of the 20 processing centres to be inspected and prepared for international shipment by thousands of volunteers.

In 2019, for example, over 10.5 million shoeboxes were collected across Australia, Austria, Canada, Finland, Germany, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, the United States and the UK. 

Where will our shoeboxes go? 

The Christmas Child shoebox initiative will send packaged shoebox gifts to children who are affected by war, poverty, natural disaster, famine and disease. We only have to turn on the news to see innocent children suffering because of wars in Ukraine, Israel and Palestine as well as natural disasters such as the earthquake in Morocco and floods and famines across the world.

When we register our boxes online we get given a barcode to put inside the shoebox and when it has been processed we will be told the destination country of our shoeboxes. Wherever our shoebox gifts are sent, we know the charity will distribute them to children who are suffering in other parts of the world.  

What have we put inside our shoeboxes? 

Operation Christmas Child’s website gives clear guidance about what can go into the shoeboxes and the sorts of things that are best given inside them.

If items are put inside the boxes that cannot be shipped for customs reasons, such as liquid soaps, toothpaste or sweets, they are removed before shipping and donated to local charities, such as food banks.

Some of the best items are small toys such as a football and pump, skipping rope, cuddly toys, small cars, musical instruments, yo-yos or a small puzzle.

Other great items to include school supplies – pens, pencils, sharpeners, crayons or felt pens, writing pads, notebooks, colouring books and solar calculators. Hygiene items such as toothbrushes, bars of soap, combs, hairbrushes or a flannel and small clothing items such as hats, scarves, gloves, socks, T-shirts, hair accessories or more.  

We have to choose if we’re filling a shoebox for a boy or girl and one of the three age categories (2-4, 5-9 or 11-14 years) and make sure the items we’ve selected are age-appropriate for that child.  

Watch this space for more community and charity involvement from our team here at Sherbz.