The AN team is now entering our busiest time of the year, which also coincides with the onset of bad weather and difficult working conditions. The main occupation is the checking, sorting and distribution of the Christmas shoeboxes. The giftboxes have to be inspected to check for the suitability of the contents for the age and gender of the intended recipient, and for a sufficient diversity in the contents. These are intended as Christmas gifts so toys and sweets need to be present alongside any other items and, of course, the box has to be reasonably full. A large box that is half-full will be disappointing even if its content amounts to more than that of a smaller well-packed box. Fortunately, many of the boxes come already inspected and well-labelled and we are extremely grateful for that. For the rest, we have stocks of sweets, toys and stationery that can be used to supplement the donated contents.
Shoeboxes are distributed to children in kindergartens and churches, and to our registered needy families and individuals. Many of the families will come to the office for boxes and it is necessary to be wary of excessive or duplicated demands. Representatives from kindergartens and churches will submit requests for a certain number of boxes but since there is rarely enough to satisfy everybody we need to exercise a degree of discretion in responding to these requests. Those who receive these boxes are grateful for the effort that goes into preparing them and despite the difficulties we are pleased to be able to help bring some joy into many lives at Christmas.
The final lorry for this year has arrived from Billingshurst but the work for the packing teams in the UK has not finished. Items continue to arrive and the teams resume their work as soon as each lorry leaves. However, they will be having a short break over the Christmas and New Year period, when they will renew their strength for the coming year’s activity. Our thanks are due to all those who have contributed to the 74 tons of clothing, food and other items that have been sent to Romania by our teams during this year.
This month’s featured photos
- Unloading Christmas boxes.
- Selecting boxes for families.
- Delivering to a rural house.
Last month’s performance statistics
These statistics give a snapshot of our aid-related activities last month.
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Stats notes:
– Joiners are new registrants this month, Leavers are are those whose latest recorded donation was 12 months ago.
– Value of stock includes items which have been used in AN projects but not yet written out of these accounts.
– Items marked as “?” are awaiting final returns for the month.
