Residents support shoebox appeal

Residents support shoebox appeal

25 November 2020

THE community in Crossgar has once again responded magnificently to an annual shoebox appeal to bring much-needed Christmas cheer to children in need overseas.

Kind-hearted people donated 225 shoeboxes for this year’s Operation Christmas Child appeal — three times more than last year.

The world-wide appeal is run by Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian international relief organisation, which has met the needs of poor, sick, and suffering people in more than 100 countries. Its president and CEO is Franklin Graham, the eldest son of the late American preacher, Billy Graham.

The appeal was organised locally by the Crossgar Life community group and the Irish dancing premises, idanceirish, in the Square was the -off location thanks to owners Josephine Brennan King and her husband Carl. 

The contents and donations within the 225 Crossgar shoeboxes are estimated to be worth £8,000.

Throughout Northern Ireland, this year an incredible 17,661 shoeboxes were collected, which is more than Scotland, despite being a third of the population size.

On top of this, there were 3,000 online donations by those who were cautious about close contact and chose to create a box online, an estimated 40 of which are from the Crossgar appeal.

“It shows that despite the pandemic, the generous people of Northern Ireland are still prepared to give,” a spokesperson for Crossgar Life said.

As well as providing quality items for overseas children aged between 2-14, the appeal has also given local kids the opportunity to do something positive during the lockdown.

“We particularly loved seeing the pride kids have in handing over their shoebox they’ve made for other kids they’ve never met who are less fortunate than they are,” the spokesperson continued.

“We were in two minds about doing it this year due to the pandemic and the restrictions that are already on shops and customers. We were delighted that Josephine was more than willing to host the appeal again.

“Last year we collected 76 boxes, so we thought if we could collect half of that, we would be happy. But when we arrived to collect what was three times as many as last year, we were thrilled. We had collected enough Christmas presents for an entire school.

“We want to thank Idanceirish Ltd for kindly allowing us to use their shop and also for helping pack all 225 shoeboxes into the van.”

The shoeboxes were picked up in Crossgar last Tuesday afternoon and all 17,661 shoeboxes from Northern Ireland were loaded into two lorries to go straight to England, where they will begin their journey across the world. Possible locations this year include Nigeria, Kazakhstan, and Eastern Europe.

Anyone who signed up for notifications via email will hear in February where their shoebox was sent to.

Last year all the shoeboxes from Northern Ireland were sent to refugee camps in the Middle East. However, for safety reasons, the specific countries have not been disclosed.