DAY THREE AT THE GU OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD WAREHOUSE

Yesterday we had that special card which we hoped we could translate into Russian. Well thank you Vanessa you managed to do it, how pleased the young lady will be when she receives it in that beautifully made box.

Vanessa with a group of her friends

   

We mentioned Ian and Di yesterday too. They both look after our special boxes. Yesterday they left earlier than normal and just in passing mentioned they were not very busy. Well….they now know not to tempt fate because this morning we had a wonderful surprise for them. Yes you guessed it, more work than they could imagine.

Two trolley loads in fact, they were delighted.

We didn’t get a peep out of them all day, but by early afternoon they had happily coped with the lot…. Well done Ian and Di. 

At last, almost done!

 One of the jobs that can get over looked, but is as important as everything else, is sharpening pencils. Malcolm is here doing just that. We don’t like sending pencils that cannot be used straightaway.

At lunch time today Maureen, (featured in red in the picture to the left), gave a fascinating insight to Kyrgyzstan where our boxes are due to go again this year. Maureen had helped distribute a consignment of shoeboxes there two years ago. She gave us all a feel of how needed the boxes are by explaining the conditions of the homes and schools. Houses with no heating, lighting or running water, homes that did not have kitchens and little or no sanitation.  She described how adults had left young children at home to travel to Russia with the hope of finding work and sending money home but sadly had found that the streets were not paved with gold. She told us how she had witnessed mothers weeping at the sight of their children receiving gifts in a shoebox that they could never provide. It is wonderful to know how well the shoeboxes are received and that it is not only the children who benefit, the whole family can do too and to our delight Maureen gave us examples of where the gifts we send are helping to bring whole communities together. We were all deeply moved by Maureen’s talk and there were a few eyes brimming with tears, it really motivated us too. Thank you Maureen.

And some numbers.....on Monday we had 59 volunteers at the warehouse, on Tuesday we had 50. By the end of Tuesday we had 1391 shoeboxes checked and packaged to date. Collections have been relatively quiet but we are expecting, and hoping, that will change next week, as Sunday 18th November is the official deadline date for people to hand in their boxes.

Last, but not least, we had a visit today from Roger Fenton, who is the Regional Manager for the South for Samaritan's Purse, the charity that Operation Christmas Child is part of. At break time he spoke to all the volunteers thanking us for all our hard work.