Recession doesn’t hit Perth Christmas shoebox appeal

Nov 20 2009 by Gordon Bannerman, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

A RECESSION busting 5,680 Christmas Shoeboxes will bring joy to Romanian families in the next few weeks.

And the local Blythswood Support Group have thanked everyone who rallied round in the Perth and Kinross community to show extraordinary generosity.

The total checked in for customs by a team of volunteers at Perth’s North Church shattered the previous record.

And it’s estimated items worth around £100,000 were tucked into shoeboxes bound for Eastern Europe.

Dennis Brown, Perth Blythswood Care Shoe Box Appeal Co-ordinator, said: “It was a wonderful achievement in the face of the current economic troubles.

“We would like to thank everyone who supported the venture this year - and offer another thank you to the North Church for the use of their halls, with special thanks to the 206 people, including the girls from Kilgraston School, who volunteered to help with the Customs checking process

“With so many people giving of their time all the boxes were checked and loaded onto the lorry by 4pm.

“On behalf of all the volunteers I’d also like to thank the bakers who handed in home baking – it certainly gave us all a lift.

“In addition to the shoeboxes filled with gifts, thanks to the skill of many lady knitters there were 20 cartons of new knitted clothes for babies, children and adults, plus five cartons of knitted blankets. Special thanks to the lady who knitted 100 teddies.

“To help Blythswood HQ with their Custom Checking the donated filler items left after the Perth process were sent to Evanton to be added to shoeboxes there.

“The generosity did not stop there – the local community also donated, with the Gift Aid added, £7,762 towards the transportation costs. This almost pays for two lorries going to Romania.

“In addition the local Support Group received many donations towards buying filler items. With money raised from the wrapped shoe boxes and a Coffee Morning, a total of £10,750 has been given to the local Shoe Box Appeal – all helping to make someone smile in Romania this Christmas.”

The lucky winners that guessed nearest to the number of Shoe Boxes were Kate King (5,684) for the adults and Willie Townsley for the children.

If you missed taking a filled box to the North Church for Custom Checking they can be brought with the normal items to the Round Scotland Collection lorry on Thursday, November 26 at ASDA from 8.30 to 11.30am.