If you saw an Enterprise van driving in the GU postcode area today, then it was possibly ours! The vans made 10 collections from different shops, schools, churches and offices in their constant hunt for boxes. So, with all these arrivals, we were well set for a good day of checking.
And everyone
was busy checking when Roger Fenton arrived. Roger is Regional Manager for the "south", an area that extends from Cornwall to Kent. He is responsible for the activities of 31 warehouses and will be visiting all of them during the campaign.
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| Roger chatting to volunteers at the checking tables |
Over lunch, Roger thanked everyone for their efforts, and talked about the value of the gift of a shoebox to an under-priviledged child. Whilst we might be tempted to think of the box as a small collection of items, to the child who receives it, it is truly precious. Many of them will never have received a gift before and never have known what it is like to share their possessions with their family and friends. It is truly humbling what the shoebox can achieve.
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| Maureen's slide show during lunchtime |
Maureen had brought in her slide show of Kyrgyzstan photos and her stories only served to re-inforce these thoughts as we saw pictures of families living in terribly poor conditions. These families truly deserve our gifts of love.
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| Vaness and the girls toys |
Our volunteer today is Vanessa Wells who has been actively supporting OCC for the last 3 years. She was introduced to the campaign by the Homemakers group (of "soap" fame - earlier posting not Eastenders!). She has 6 grandsons of her own so particularly enjoys doing girls boxes! She is an avid knitter, knitting every day, and likes the fact that she can work "behind the scenes" all year round. For her, it is about knowing that she is giving joy to so many children and imagining the delight on the children's faces when they open the boxes.
Thank you Vanessa and keep up the knitting!
And now it's time for a commercial break! Here is Marianne promoting the Christmas Cards that have been designed using photos from 6 of our volunteers' distribution trips.
If you are interested then please let us know and we can probably arrange postage!
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| Marianne and Rose with inappropriate fillers. |
Back in the warehouse Marianne and Rose are modelling items from a "odd box" that had been donated. The box was a regular cardboard box rather than a shoebox and contained nothing but adult clothes including some underwear. Somebody obviously didn't read the leaflet!
A much better filler is today's filler of the day and follows the theme of teddies in a bag. These gorgeous bears are knitted hand puppets and they each have their own colourful crocheted bag and strap. They are delightful and will give many hours of joy to the children who receive them.
And Ted? Well he heard that it was going to be a busy van day so he was eager to help out. No thanks, Ted we have enough drivers and we need you in the warehouse!
Editors note - the link to this week's photos should now work - apologies for any distress!
See you tomorrow!
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