This year, for 2014, we are making 3000 shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child.

To do this we've had to make a few changes.  We'll still be putting the goodies in the boxes, using 10's of friends and volunteers, but the boxes themselves need to be different.  Last year we had over one thousand cardboard shoeboxes and lids printed.  This saved the gift wrapping time, but these boxes still needed to be assembled from flat-pack.  Cardboard boxes, when filled, can only be stacked about 10 boxes high, so this limits the stacking height to about 1 meter.  Also we've had feedback suggesting that particularly in Africa, the kids keep their boxes for many years.  So we've come up with a plastic box that meets the new requirements.  The new plastic boxes are pre-assembled, can be stacked 2.2m high and will last the kids 10 or more years if looked after.  The only thing left is decorating the boxes, so we are going to cover each box in loads of colourful stickers to give it that Christmas'y look.  We have already purchased most of the contents for the boxes and we'll start packing them in October.

For 2011 we made 1094 shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child.

Last year it took 3 days solid to gift wrap 111 shoeboxes, so for 2011, we had over 1000 boxes printed with a nice red and white snowflake design so we didn't have to wrap them.  This has given the boxes a more robust finish to help protect them on their journey and also freed up time for us to concentrate on getting the items to fill the boxes.  Filling started on 10 October 2011 and we delivered the boxes to the Operation Christmas Child Depot in Wrexham mid November. We've been told that this year most of our boxes are destined for Liberia.  In all we did 512 girls boxes and 582 boys boxes.  Each box contains a selection of items and we've listed these below for a Girl's box:

2 to 3 Hair Bands, 4 to 5 Balloons, 4 to 5 Sweets, Pencil, Blue and Black Pen, Rainbow Colouring Pens, Watch (Girl Colour), Pair of Socks, Pink Soap Dish, Soap, Face Cloth (Girl Colour), Dolphin Tooth Brush, Tooth Paste, Christmas Cards, Notepad, Hat.

Turn a centrifuge into fun...

It all started with a used centrifuge last year - At the beginning of the year we decided that we would get it together this year and mass produce shoeboxes of toys for the Samaritans Shoe box appeal. These are basically shoe boxes full of goodies that get sent all round the world for needy children at Christmas.

It's amazing how it all came together – Using the money raised by selling the old centrifuge, we bought 100 shoeboxes from a web supplier and went round a number of stores looking for deals on the items to go inside the shoeboxes.

We bought tubes of tooth paste from tesco at 17p per tube, thousands of value felt tip pens, note pads, etc, etc, toothbrushes from Bargain Madness and Baseball Caps and colourful socks from Primark. It's amazing, wherever we went there were special offers to be had. The mini production line started and we got 100 boxes wrapped and filled in 3 days!

This year we've done as many boxes as can fit in the back of a Ford Mondeo Estate - it turned out to be 111 boxes !

In the recession, its hard for us all, but It can lead to charities and volunteer organisations getting hit the hardest. Even if its something small each one of us has the power to answer a prayer, “Answer a prayer today – its amazing how small things can make a big difference".

If you can help support Operation Christmas Child in any way, either now or maybe take a note of it for next years appeal, then please visit this link.