Rotary Shoe Boxes

SHOEBOX SUPPORT

Imaginative children armed with scissors and a felt-tip pen can give shoeboxes an interesting new identity.  But, generally speaking, we don’t think of a shoebox as being really useful: it often doesn’t even get beyond the door of the shop.  However, Rotary International, with a burst of fresh thinking, came up with the idea of using these humble boxes as a means of providing greatly needed help to young people and households in some Eastern European countries. The gift of a shoebox that contains toys, toiletries, educational items or household goods provides a drop of happiness to people who live in a world of poverty. For many, it will be the first present that they have ever received and it lets them know that somebody, somewhere cares. 

So how does this all happen? Shoeboxes are distributed to schools and other youth organisations.  The young people then fill each box with gifts choosing whether it goes to a young child, a teenager or gives help for the household.  The boxes are then collected and, in the case of the local Perthshire area, brought to Perth from where they are transported to an area of Eastern Europe where there is great need.

Anne Wright, who is the International Chair for Rotary District 1020, was recently on a trip to Sighuet which is in Northern Romania near the Ukrainian border, where she was involved in distributing shoe boxes in the local area.  She noticed that the boxes they were distributing had originated from the Bridge of Allan and Dunblane Rotary Club, and, specifically, from Dunblane schools. She has sent us some pictures.  The pictures show a Romanian family living in desperately impoverished conditions.  The boxes were distributed to the children.   It is not often we see where the shoe boxes finish up, so these pictures are of particular interest to schools in the Dunblane and Bridge of Allan area which had provided the gifts.

Boxes will soon be available with schools and youth groups encouraged to make a special effort this year when the number of refugees has grown hugely, and there is an enormous need for help.

Some sense of the value of the boxes can be gauged from the following message from a distributer of boxes in Ukraine:

On 17^th December we received a container of shoeboxes at the village of Chervona Motovylivka, east of Kiev. Rehabilitation centres gave out shoeboxes to people with dark and difficult pasts. In Motovylivka, a Christmas event was attended by 600 children and after games and songs each child received a shoebox gift. In the village of Klehivka, children and adults went to a special Christmas event where boxes were again given out.

A large number of boxes were also sent down to Odessa. Children in orphanages were so happy to receive your shoeboxes and they were so grateful. A community of large families set up 12 years ago, also received gifts for the children.

We visited families with disabled children and poor people and in some cases it was the only chance for children to receive toys and other necessary items. Parents are very thankful for the help. All those who received gifts thank you.

May God bless you and your families and give you strength and wisdom for further work.

This is the 20^th year since the start of the Rotary Shoebox Scheme in November 1994. Over this time, Rotary has delivered well over one million shoeboxes. Items filling the boxes can vary in total value but we know that several million pounds worth of gifts have been distributed.