More than 5,000 Christmas shoeboxes donated for Rotary appeal

Thursday 31 October 2024

Shoeboxes filled with Christmas gifts and essentials will be making their way to children in Moldova, Montenegro, Romania and Ukraine.

Generous islanders and local businesses filled 5,171 shoeboxes for Rotary’s annual appeal.

Pictured: Six boxes were delivered from the Russell’s Day Centre.

Hannah Laidlow, shoebox co-ordinator, said: 'It has been an amazing year for The Rotary Guernesias Shoebox Appeal and the biggest total collected since Covid. 

“We are very grateful and thankful to everyone who has made a contribution whether it is facilities, goods, services, donations and the wonderfully wrapped shoeboxes whether 1, 100 or 1,000 every single box is important to us and will bring some Christmas joy to a child.

Pictured: Staff from Ogier's were among the corporate volunteers that helped.

“Our volunteers, drivers collecting from schools and businesses and helpers in the warehouse, from Rotary Guernesiais, Rotary Club of Guernsey, Inner Wheel and many non-Rotarians we could not have achieved this massive task in a week without them all.”

Breton staff completed loading the cartons full of shoeboxes on the two containers to be shipped to the UK courtesy of Channel Seaways.

They will go to the Wessex District Depot in Bournemouth to be loaded on to lorries for their onward travel to their Eastern Europe destinations in time for Christmas.

Pictured: Breton staff load the boxes ready to be shipped off.