Six Medway and Maidstone members met up on 29 October and filled 47 shoeboxes for Christmas at a member’s home as part of the Blythswood Care Christmas Appeal.
In preparation, 47 empty shoeboxes had been collected and wrapped ready to be filled. Our target group were women and girls age 10+. Items identified on the checklist provided had been knitted or purchased by members. These essential items included hat, scarf, gloves, underwear, socks, soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, sweets, and a toy/gift plus other items such as pens, pencils, notepads, and hairbrushes.
During the afternoon we were busy and had a fun time and successfully filled all 47 shoeboxes. The shoeboxes were loaded up into Jane Barnes’ car and delivered to the Collection Point in Maidstone the next day.
In 2024, over 85,000 shoeboxes were sent by Blythswood Care to eight different countries – Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Kosovo, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, and Ukraine. The individually wrapped boxes are distributed in schools, hospitals, orphanages, and care homes, and to households in very low-income communities. The shoeboxes from our local Collection Point will be going to Kosovo.