On your marks....!

The Team and Teddy prepare to set up

There was definitely a sense of "On your marks....!" last night as the team gathered to talk about setting up the warehouse on Friday with the tables, chairs, posters, fillers and of course the already collected boxes.

  

Carolyn shared a proposed layout of the warehouse and explained how the "flow" of unchecked boxes through to filled cartons will work. There's certainly not going to be any lack of space this year - in fact the team may need walkies talkies and roller skates to communicate and get around easily!

The trolleys that have been loaned by Tesco previously would definitely be a benefit and the team are thinking of asking Homebase for the loan of a couple of their flat bed trolleys. The more the merrier!

The Team with the warehouse plan

Debbie then talked about this blog and appealed for stories and pictures as they are available during the campaign. She also talked about the BBC's Britain in a Day event and suggested that the team could be involved and make a film around the set up process.

After all the general notices and information from Carolyn, Celia closed the meeting in prayer.

The team will meet again at the warehouse!!!

G I F T S on the radio!

Steve Shurville, OCC volunteer, was up bright and early on Thursday 3rd November as he was a guest on Nick Wallis' breakfast show on Radio Surrey. Steve had a 5 minute slot to talk about filling a shoebox for OCC.  He used the mnemonic GIFTS to help people remember what is suitable for well balanced box.
That's G for a gift or toy,  I for insulation (hat etc), F for a furry friend, T for toiletries and S for stationery.

Steve mentioned that some people like to do their own shoeboxes completely, whereas others might club together to provide the contents and then have a joint packing session. Either way results in wonderfully filled boxes that can then go on the next step of the journey.

Shoezone and Stead & Simpson were mentioned as ideal places to pick up an empty box and leaflet and also to drop off the filled box. Other drop off points are also available and can be found through the search facility on the OCC website.

Eleanor, Nick and Steve outside Radio Surrey

Let's hope lots of people heard Steve and will be inspired to pack a shoebox this year.

If you'd like to hear Steve's interview then follow the link and scroll through to 2 hours 53 mins. (available until Thurs 10th Nov)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00l47pl/Surrey_Breakfast_with_Nick_Wallis_03_11_2011/

P,P,P Pick up a puppet!

Puppets, pencil cases, hats and bags were all on display at Cedar Court Care Home, Cranleigh last week, as the members of the Needles and Pins Group gathered to see the results of their year's work.

Puppets a plenty in the Jasmine Lounge

The group meets approximately twice a month for an afternoon of knitting, pom-pom making and general chat!   It's the group's second year of knitting for OCC and there's something for everyone to do. Some make the puppets and hats, whilst others knit squares that are turned into bags and pencil cases and those who prefer not to knit generally enjoy making pom-poms.

Annie and Violet with some of their creations

Gill Watson, Needles and Pins organiser said "It's amazing how much has been produced throughout the year. Everyone should be really proud of their efforts". But the fun isn't quite over for this year as Michael Gains, Activities Co-ordinator at Cedar Court will be organising a trip for the group to the warehouse during the campaign. So watch out - you may see these happy smiling faces again!

All brushed up to support OCC!

Fur was being brushed and paws cleaned at The Bear Garden in Guildford on Friday 28th October as OCC volunteers arrived to receive this year's mascot.  One fortunate bear was going to be donated by The Bear Garden and will accompany the delivery of shoeboxes to Kyrgyzstan. Once there he will be presented to one of the orphanages or children's homes where he'll spend many happy days with children who will no doubt love him.

Andrew Colborne-Baber, owner of The Bear Garden, kindly donated a gorgeously soft brown bear and Anne Milton, Conservative MP for Guildford, was on hand to present the lucky bear to Maureen Grew for OCC.

Maureen, Anne, Teddy and Andrew

The bear will be named by the volunteers at the warehouse and money will be raised to help him with his travel costs to Kyrgzstan!

Both Andrew and Anne were very happy to support OCC. Andrew and his team will also be donating other toys and it may be possible, that despite a very busy schedule, Anne can visit us at the warehouse. We do hope so!

Bears and Friends support OCC

Shoebox Sunday

The boxes have begun to arrive - we're nearly there!

260 gorgeously filled boxes were presented to Carolyn Gercke last week following the Shoebox Sunday Service on 23rd October at 10:30am at Emmanuel Church, Guildford. 100 of the boxes had been collected from a local school and the others came from groups and families within the church

The church was packed and the entire service revolved around the theme of “accepting Jesus’s love and then giving that love we have received to others”.  The congregation watched the DVD clip below and afterwards the shoeboxes were collected at the front of the church and blessed. It was a very moving part of the service and helped everyone to focus on the key messages of the campaign.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlC_sHK4mjs

Let's pray that there are many other Shoebox Sunday's planned throughout the area over the next few weeks.

How many bars of soap???

The Homemakers Group in Farnham have been busy all year supporting OCC and last Wednesday were making up yet more valuable toiletry bags to be included in the shoeboxes.
The group has been active for over 30 years and has embraced shoeboxes since about 2005 when Maureen (of Kyrgzstan fame below) arranged for Carolyn to visit and share shoebox stories. Many of the group will also be volunteering on warehouse duties in the coming weeks, so they'll be kept busy.

Farnham  Homemakers

So how many bars of soap did they pack? .........answers on a postcard please!

The Warehouse is confirmed

Drum roll please...... the location of this year's warehouse has been confirmed !!!

As last year's warehouse was no longer available, the search was on to find a different location somewhere within the Guildford/Godalming area. A site was identified and after approval from Head Office it was confirmed.
For those of you who knew last year's warehouse, this one is bigger, much bigger, in fact maybe 5 times bigger! It's been suggested that we'll need a golf buggy to get from one side to the other - well at least we'll all get fit :-)

So here are the details     
     Wurth House, Cattershall Lane, Godalming, GU7 1NP

If you are approaching from Guildford towards Godalming, go past the crematorium and the lake, turn left after the Esso garage and follow the road round, the warehouse is on the right. Here's a preview.

We'll be there from
Mon 14th Nov - Fri 2nd Dec    9:30am - 4:00pm
Saturday 19th & 26th Nov      10:00am - 3:00pm

So come one, come all, come and join us  -- just wear comfy shoes!