Day6 - and lots of new faces

The drivers might have been resting today as there were no scheduled collections, but they were the only ones. The trainers, checkers, cartonners and goods-in crews were all hard at work as another 980 boxes were cartonned and ready to go. The warehouse was buzzing once again with all the activity.

Daryl & Wendy 

Lots of today's volunteers work full time during the week so this is their chance to come and be part of the process. Two such volunteers are Daryl and Wendy Palmer. They've been doing boxes for 8 years or more but have always dropped them off either with Wendy's Mum in Essex or at a local church. Now inspired by their friends Jenny and Heather, they came along for the first time today. They were impressed by the organisation and care taken in the warehouse and now more fully appreciate the importance of packing a shoebox with just the right things. For them, like many others, it's the realisation that a simple gift is making a huge difference to a child's life that encourages them to continue. Also, like many others, one day at the warehouse just isn't enough - so I think we'll be seeing both Daryl and Wendy next Saturday too!

The many uses of a video box

Today's filler idea may answer the question of what to do with all those redundant video tapes, now that we are truly in the digital age. Well, unfortunately, we can't use the actual tape but the box could become a container for many different things such as a stationery set, a jigsaw or a craft kit. The boxes can be decorated with christmas cards or stickers, and are so practical and long lasting that the child will have a useful box for many months to come.


There were some other lovely items included in the boxes today, some were rather large and you wouldn't have expected them to fit in, but with clever packing, train sets, doll's tea sets and even mini gardening sets were included with all the other requisite items too. Sometimes, it just requires a bit of lateral thinking!

And Ted? - well today was Carolyn's day off so Ted decided he could step in, and was found busy on the phone at the admin desk. Nice try Ted, but Carolyn's back on Monday, so we won't be needing you there.

See you on Monday for Week 2!

Day5 - the end of the first week - almost!

Yes, for many, tomorrow is the weekend and a day away from the warehouse but for other brave souls, it's another day and a chance to introduce a new group of volunteers to this year's warehouse. Tomorrow we'll be open from 10, so don't come too early - relish that extra 30mins in bed!

Heather at the checking table.

And in fact, new volunteers was a theme for today - we welcomed a couple who had travelled from Thames Ditton (25 miles away) to be with us. They'd done boxes before and were looking for a way to become more involved - (I think that might just be possible!). We were also very pleased to welcome a local volunteer who had responded to our note in the local paper. It's great to know that the pre-campaign advertising has worked! And of course we welcome all the new volunteers who have come through various degrees of arm twisting (sorry encouragement) from their friends. One of these is Heather Thomas who is today's volunteer. She is a friend of one of our volunteer's daughter and came to help out today. So far she's enjoyed checking all the boxes and was aiming to complete the full set by working through all the gender/age combinations. Thanks Heather, we hope you enjoyed your day and if so please come back and bring your friends!

Carolyn re-inforcing key points

Coffee and lunch times are vital times at the warehouse as this is an opportunity for the volunteers to chat together and catch up on all that's been happening. Carolyn also makes good use of these times to re-inforce the key messages of the campaign and the importance of the checking process. Today was no exception as she highlighted some of the "problems" that had been included in the boxes which needed keen eyes to spot. Less difficult to spot were the pair of trainers that were found on their own in a box. We're rather concerned that a Mum somewhere is missing her new gym shoes. Oooops!
Carolyn also told us that our first export shipment is booked for next Friday!!!  For Kyrgyzstan, the boxes are being transported in a container rather than a lorry as this container will then stay in the country. So an APB for any strong men/women to please come down next Friday and help us load.

Back on the road, the vans were out and about in GU31/34 areas and the blog was out there too to record the action. The first collection was at Churcher's college in Petersfield, followed by the United Reformed Church and then Harting Primary School.

Loading up

The shoebox column

The collection at Harting had been timed to co-incide with the end of assembly so we had lots of helpful children on hand to load the van. Operation Christmas Child is a real community event and 90 boxes had already been given by the village. The whole school, then joined together to fill boxes from a mass of  fillers donated by the children and their parents.  They had then built a beautiful column of filled boxes which was proudly displayed in the hall. It was a shame to dismantle it. The children had really enjoyed doing boxes this way and it had meant that everyone could be involved. Additionally the local church had donated 55 boxes which was a fantastic effort. As ever a big thank you to all our drop off and collection points for their donations and helpful organisation.

Maybe take them from the top?

Another job for the vans, this year, is to help out the Esher warehouse. Esher are able to check their own boxes but have limited storage space so we have offered to store their cartons for them. The first van-load arrived today and somehow we were able to fit them all in!

So many balls, so much fun

Meanwhile the fillers were still in demand at the warehouse. Despite the usual good quality of the boxes that are recieved, it is amazing how many filler items are used over the 3 weeks. Today's filler is a very simple idea, it can provide hours of play value, be used in so many ways, be washed and is remarkably resilient. It's a ball, whether a tennis ball, a plastic ball or a juggling ball, these are ideal fillers. We are very glad to have a good supply from both local tennis clubs that kindly donate and via volunteer's Sainsburys and Tesco's sports' initiatives.


So where was Ted on this busy day? - well, it was Friday afternoon and it seems he'd decided on a comfy seat trying on the 2-4 year old hats. Really Ted, come on, one more day to go yet.

Ted keeping warm and cosy on a Friday afternoon

See you tomorrow!

Just a reminder - this week's photo album is here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/103588759400401245450/Week1?authkey=Gv1sRgCJWSyc_Ok-i_jAE#

Day4 and 3450 boxes ready to go

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.

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.

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.

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.

http://youtu.be/09bej1Wz8sw

If you are interested then please let us know and we can probably arrange postage!

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!

https://picasaweb.google.com/103588759400401245450/Week1?authkey=Gv1sRgCJWSyc_Ok-i_jAE#

See you tomorrow!

Day3 and we welcome our first visitors

Day 3 and the boxes keep rolling in. Today the vans were out in the GU4, GU10 and GU16 areas and also included a collection from Carolyn's garage where she has been storing over 300 donated boxes for the last week or so! Today these boxes arrived just in time as we were running low on yesterday's delivery. It's a fine balance at times!




Phew! Boxes arrive just in time

Marianne and Tom with boxes from Barfield School

As well as the usual number of volunteers today, we were very pleased to welcome our first group of visitors. Students from Barfield School, Farnham arrived mid-morning and brought with them their own boxes. The school has been doing shoeboxes for many years and the students were keen to look around. They were given an "access all areas" guided tour by Jenny and Maureen, had a chance to see the boxes being checked and ask any questions they might have. The students seemed very impressed by the scale of the operation and left motivated to continue supporting us. It was great to see them - we hope you continue to enjoying doing your boxes.

Wendy bravely smiles through it all!

Today's volunteer is Wendy Hoare, who, despite a having had a crown fitted first thing this morning, still came into the warehouse and spent the rest of the day checking and training. Bravo Wendy! Wendy attends St Saviour's Church and is part of the prayer chain that supports the campaign during the three weeks. She has been volunteering with OCC for as long as she can remember and loves being involved with such a worthwhile project. She says the warehouse team is like a big family and it's fantastic to meet up with people year on year to all serve the same purpose. Thanks Wendy, we hope you are fully recovered tomorrow.



The filler of the day today are these teddies in lovely hand-made bags. There are 2 types, the ones for the older girls have shoulder straps, whereas for the younger girls they are hand bag style. The bags are beautifully padded and finished and not surprisingly they all disappeared into boxes within a few hours!

And talking of teddies - where's Ted??? Only on top of the filled cartons - the 10-14 boys naturally.  He'll be getting used to the company of these cartons on the long road to Krygyzstan.

But for now, it's back to the warehouse.

See you tomorrow!

Day2 - The warehouse is in full swing

Another busy day at the warehouse with collections arriving from 2 schools, 2 churches and a leisure centre. At its busiest all the checking tables were in use and the warehouse was humming with more than the sound of the heaters! The cartonned total is 1490 but there are many boxes awaiting cartonning.

All go at 10am

As the weeks progress, there will be a few regular features to the blog: - a "Spotlight on" section will take an in-depth look at the different activities that help keep the warehouse running ; "filler of the day" will highlight original or novel filler ideas; "volunteer profile" will talk to the volunteers about how they help and more importantly why; and of course there's "Where's Ted?" as he roams the warehouse.

Spotlight On..... Training.
The first thing any volunteer will do when they arrive is spend time at the training table with one of our team of trainers. The trainers are responsible for welcoming the volunteers and giving them all the information they need to send out the "fair boxes" that we require. This is no mean feat and there's alot of information to take in, especially when the country specific information is included. As these regulations can change year on year it's important that everyone is trained each season even if they have checked previously.

The Training Table

Special attention is given to the "can go" / "can't go" area as this is often the place that generates the most questions from the volunteers. The training table has good examples of all these items and can be referred to at any time.
New volunteers are then assigned a buddy who will work through their first few boxes with them ensuring the process is understood. At all times the volunteers are encouraged to ask questions and never make assumptions about can/can't go as it could be putting someone at risk in our partner countries.

John's happy packing

Someone who has known the warehouse processes for the last few years is John Jones. He became involved with the warehouse as his wife was a dedicated volunteer though as a teacher he knew about OCC through his school. He often helps in packing cartons and driving the van. He particularly enjoys driving the van and collecting from the schools, where the children often come out and help load up. He says it's a great moment for them to wave off their boxes. John has been particularly inspired by the OCC stories seen on DVD at his church. For him it's about giving something to those who have nothing. Thanks John for talking to me.




Filler of the day?? How about these lovely boxes, hand-made, decorated and filled with jewellry. Beautiful and so easy to pack.

Hand made jewellry boxes

So that leaves Ted - and today he can be found comfortably relaxing in the donated wool box under the sales table (New items that cannot be sent but can be sold raising transport money). The wool is available for any keen knitter or pom pom maker, donations are welcome but really just return the finished article!

Ted relaxing in the wool box

Come on Ted - there's work to be done.


See you tomorrow!

Day1 - We're off and 800 cartonned at end of play

The warehouse got off to a flying start today as over 30 volunteers arrived to begin checking the boxes. After a brief refresher training session, the volunteers got to work and it wasnt long before the first filled carton was sealed - not surprisingly it was a carton of 5-9 girls boxes!

    Busy checking

The 1st of many !

Shortly after,  the vans arrived, one of which had collected a pallet of toothpaste, kindly donated by GlaxoSmithKline. This was a wonderful donation as we will be able to share some of this toothpaste with other warehouses in the area who may not have sufficient for the campaign. Fortunately Mike and John were on hand to offload the boxes!



Back at the tables, there was an unusual gift of an egg timer in a box, and the inside of a lid that had been lovingly decorated by the donor.  Whereas behind the scenes all the donated filler items were being sorted ready to go out.


And it's not just the ladies who have been making these fillers - Michael Grew has been busy in his workshop making wooden toys for the boxes. From puzzles to puppets, he has made over 120 that will definitely find good homes through the boxes. These are really lovely gifts.

wooden puzzles

The hand made puppets are amazing

So where has Ted been throughout the day?????? Well, he found the trolleys that have been generously loaned by Sainsbury's and Homebase. They will definitely save our legs this year - as you may have noticed the warehouse is rather large!




As ever it's difficult to include all the photos from today. If you want to look at the others, please click on the link.
https://picasaweb.google.com/103588759400401245450/November142011#

See you tomorrow!

Ted's first box

Mascot Ted (of Bear Garden fame - see earlier post) was on hand to personally supervise the arrival of the 1st shoebox into the warehouse on Friday. This was a very significant moment as it is expected that Ted will accompany this and 9,999 other boxes to Kyrgyzstan in the next few weeks.

Ted was also to be seen at home getting shoeboxes ready for Monday's start at the warehouse.

He's ready - hope to see you there!

Britain in a Day at the warehouse

The team may have been busy setting up the warehouse ready for the boxes on Monday, but they took time out to record their thoughts and feelings for the BBC's Britian in a Day initiative.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00kqz5p

Jenny talking to camera

Maureen Grew, Carolyn Gercke, Jenny Winter and Kate Loveless, each recorded a short video clip that has been uploaded onto the Britain in a Day Youtube site. You never know you may yet see them on the final film, played before the Olympics!

Kate & Chris captured whilst sharpening pencils