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Shoe-pendous! Lancashire sends 22,500 presents to needy (From Blackpool Citizen)
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Shoe-pendous! Lancashire sends 22,500 presents to needy
7:20am Thursday 17th December 2009
A LANCASHIRE charity has thanked people for their generosity as it sends an astonishing 22,500 shoe-boxes to needy children.
Operation Christmas Child has seen the parcels sent to youngsters facing difficult lives in several countries across the world, including Azerbaijan, Belarus, and Bosnia.
Donations were taken from collection points across the county, then checked, and packed for transportation, at warehouses in Morecambe and Lancaster, before shipment to their final destinations.
Regional manager Ian Taylor said: “This has been a hard year for many people in Lancashire, and we are just knocked out by the fact so many of them have put together a shoebox.
“It has such a positive effect on the child who receives it and I want everyone here to know that their gifts make a real difference.”
Since its launch in 1990, Operation Christmas Child has become one of the UK’s biggest annual charity programmes.
A team of volunteers based in Lancaster organises the collection of the shoeboxes from schools, churches, and places of work, and takes them to a local checking centres.
At the checking centre, each shoebox is opened to ensure that there are no items which may harm the child, or cause a problem at customs.
The shoeboxes are then placed into cartons and either shipped out in a container, or a lorry.
Mr Taylor added: “When they arrive in the destination country, the shoeboxes are distributed on the basis of need by local organisations, charities, and churches, to children aged between two and 14, many living in orphanages, street shelters, hospitals, displaced persons camps, or whose families are facing hardship due to poverty.
“The joy that the shoeboxes bring lightens their lives, and the care and consideration that people here put into choosing their gifts shines through in the personal touches and in the items they send.”
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Your Say YourCitizen
akon, padiham says...
12:51pm Thu 17 Dec 09
Jack-son, Burnley says...
1:25pm Thu 17 Dec 09
Jack-son, Burnley says...
1:28pm Thu 17 Dec 09
Mike Costa, Blackburn says...
2:09pm Thu 17 Dec 09
Jack-son wrote:Mike Costa says:
The shoe boxes contain an assortment of items useful to the children.
Hope that includes shoes. I'd hate to open a shoe box and find there were no shoes in it, only stuff that people are throwing out.
onlyonesimongarner, ewood says...
2:30pm Thu 17 Dec 09
Jack-son wrote:Get a life you saddo
Why don't you two 'Grow up' and recognise peoples willingness to help others, something I'm sure you know little about.
This rag needs a bit of humour now and again
akon, padiham says...
3:20pm Thu 17 Dec 09
Doh !!
SPREADING SMILES: Students from Blackburn College wrapped and decorated 67 shoeboxes packed full of gifts and goodies for children in need across Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia
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emertonbrokemyhand, No Mans Land says...
8:21am Thu 17 Dec 09