CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations to each and everyone of you, everyone who played a part in achieving the most fantastic shoeboxes numbers. So here we go.... be prepared, amazed and stunned at these figures.
An incredible 44,127 shoeboxes left our warehouse, Yes that's correct 44,127 can you believe it?
This year was very different and very challenging with the lack of warehouses available. There were times when we thought we were doing the whole of the South East of England and the warehouse certainly looked like we were too!

But we rose to the challenge and we managed to send out that incredible number of shoeboxes. so, here are the numbers broken down:

The total number of shoeboxes processed by Guildford

          GU postcode area    15844 .... shoeboxes up on last year!!!

          KT postcode area     7171

   
          Other areas              3410

The grand total we processed ourselves    26425

The total number of cartons we made up      2551

The total number of cartons received from other offices     1754   

They contained    17702 shoeboxes

The total number of cartons dispatched from our warehouse         4305

Total number of shoeboxes dispatched from our warehouse        44127

We managed all that..... we kept going with all the fillers, we kept up with all the figures and counted all that extra money...... thanks to EVERYONE.

LOOKING BACK

Thankfully we secured a great warehouse, once this is established its go, go, go. Plans are very quickly made and put into action. Not forgetting communications, we need to let people know so we have the volunteers, arrange for vans, tables heaters and all the things we need to operate.

You can physically hear the words "Yah, we can empty our lofts, garages, sheds and spare rooms"  sweep across the GU and KT postcode area. And empty them we did but despite that we STILL ran out of items but we were truly blessed with people continually bringing in fillers and often going out to buy them personally.

DURING THE TIME

We have yet to count the number of volunteers we had, it was certainly up on last year and it was great to see lots of new faces and many of those from the KT area. Several days we had more than 100 adult volunteers and children as well.

The majority of the training was carried out by Maureen, Penny Christine, Heather and Jenny, a key part of the induction that results in people feeling valued, informed and confident in processing super shoeboxes that are fair and bursting with love and joy.

FINISHING UP

Well the final day came and the last lorry arrived and whilst it was being loaded MORE shoeboxes were coming in and we were making our own shoeboxes out of the incredible £994 we made from the sales table, Teddy's name and the beautiful cake Lynne made. It was great to see boxes being made or processed, placed onto the table, into cartons and onto the lorry in a matter of minutes. Plus other funds like the Eurostar tickets and fund raising throughout the year enabled us to make 654 of our own.








All these left on the last load to Romania which contained 893 cartons which was 9167 shoeboxes. I wonder if Stephen or Dee will see any of them on their distribution trip later this month. They will know our boxes, they are full and quite heavy ..... ask those who loaded the lorry!!!!





Great pictures of Dee who is taking Bethany the bear out to Romania to find a child who will love her.

Bethany did try to jump on the lorry, but we managed to rescue her.

We had a great driver Danny who accepted our gift of goodies with great joy and said he had a four year old child, so we quickly added a soft toy, yes we had a few left at the end of the day.

Once the lorry had gone it was time to clear up and thanks to all those who stayed behind to stack chairs and tables, sweep up and clean the loos. The warehouse was transformed to its former self within an hour. A great job done by a great team. Nothing would happen without you. Even the giant broom got into the photo.





So sadly we say goodbye, thank you is never enough. However, we think of all those children who will get a shoebox.

Heather and Jenny would like to send our sincere thanks and wish everyone a very Happy Peaceful Christmas with a New Year that is full of good Health and Happiness.

The warehouse is now empty.... well almost just a table set for two whist we wait for the tables to be collected.......

WEDNESDAY 4th DEC ....NEARLY THERE

Well, yes we are nearly there. However, after celebrating our last collection/delivery yesterday, guess what? Yes more shoeboxes came in late yesterday and this morning.

No worries for our crew! And of course we celebrate each and every box as we know for every shoebox we have it gives the gift of love we want each child to enjoy. Still our volunteers came in and processed the boxes on hand and once we checked all the donated boxes we started making up some of our own.

As you know it costs £3.00 to send a shoebox out to the country they are destined for.
Did you know? Each lorry or container can cost around £10,000 depending on location, so naturally each shoebox we make ourselves in the warehouse we have to have £3.00 to pay for the transport costs. Thankfully the sales table, Lynne's cake, Henry the Bear and, of course, your generous donations of fillers have contributed to raising enough money and having enough items to enable us to send more boxes.

We do have to say thanks to all those who raise money too. Maureen with her talks and sponsored boxes, made by Vanessa and Sue, so thanks to them too. They also make crafts to sell and raise money, Judy our super shopper gets so many bargains for us, we couldn't do without her. .... Sorry if we have not mentioned you as there are so many fund raisers and shoppers.

We are so happy our last load is going to Romania, Not only is Stephen and Dee going on a Distribution trip there, with Henry and Bethany this year's teddy bears, we have had a long history with that country.  It was the first country to receive boxes and when Jenny and Heather went to collect shoeboxes at St Andrew's Church, Cobham  we met Lorand who as a young boy received a shoebox from OCC and is now a strapping lad working with "Heart for Romania Crafts" trading in the UK.... yes we can and do change lives.

WE ARE PIONEERS......

.......Well we feel like it, as we actually reached the wall which, for the past three weeks has been totally covered with shoeboxes.

Well done everybody, there were times when we thought we'd never get to see that wall again.













At lunch we announced the name of the Teddy, this year it is Henry, Megan, Leo and Stephen will be taking him out to Romania. Good luck Stephen in finding the right home for Henry.

Congratulations to Jill Bond who guessed the correct first name, Henry; to Cath Way who guessed Megan and to Gemma Leech who guessed Leo.

...and that beautiful cake Lynne made. Peggy from Surbiton guessed correctly 14lbs or 6.35kg and this helped raise over £50 and with the sales table and Henry the grand total is in excess of £700.00 so we are able to make up plenty of our own shoeboxes.

Our youngest volunteer Poppy came in with her shoebox, she has been coming to the warehouse and has done a box for three years and she is three years old, so has been doing it all her life! Poppy wrapped the box and chose the gifts to go in it. Actually Poppy is now NOT the youngest volunteer, she has given up this title to her little sister Tilly 7 months.



99.9% of our shoeboxes have either been brought in or collected now, hence we actually reached the wall!! Michael and Malcolm collected from the Weybridge area today, Penny brought her schools boxes in and we had a delivery of 750 from the London area plus a few others. So don't desert us yet..... there is still plenty to do.







Our last collection was received late today from Kelly who had driven quite a way to find us. She brought in three shoeboxes beautifully wrapped. Her son Alex who is 8 had done a presentation at his school and Kelly, Alex and Oliver, who is 5 recently found out about OCC saw a video and decided to make shoeboxes. Thank you very much and we hope to see you next year at the warehouse.




STOP PRESS!!!!
Our last load, which leaves on Thursday is going to Romania. Stephen and Dee will be delighted as they will be leaving on their distribution trip on 15th of this month to Romania.

IT'S THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE IT

True, it is all the people who contribute to the whole operation that enables all this to happen. That's YOU, whether you pop in when you can, come every day for the whole three weeks or somewhere in-between, without you it would not happen.

It's not possible to include everyone but here are some of our volunteers, old hands and some newcomers too. It has been wonderful to see so many new people and quite a number from the KT area too. Thanks for making the effort to come to the GU warehouse.

 Some new friends.

Some regulars over the years.

Some new young friends, who will be here with us in the coming years.

We are always especially delighted to see Vera.

Of course we cannot possibly do our shoeboxes without the fantastic support of our fillers and the team who manage all of that area and it was Magic Monday today as we ran out of quite a number of items on Saturday, which meant many of you were seeking out what we needed and today so many new fillers appeared...... thank you everyone who donated them.

Trish, she is on the sweets, lucky she doesn't like them!






Sue, Judy and Gill modelling the perfect wooly hats, the pattern is on the OCC website, one size fits all so perfect for any age. If you are knitting please use the nice super soft wool. It is best for these hats and much cosier for children's heads.

 Ian and Di who look after the problem boxes but Di also spends hours making up small packs of toys..... we are talking of hundreds here and OCC is not the only charity they support. They also make up backpacks full of items for children in Africa.






Sue, Marianne, Vanessa and Kate all keep the fillers topped up. Sue and Vanessa are particularly talented in the things they make and create and they also make all the sponsored boxes.

Our shoebox pile is now more the size of a garden shed than that of a whole house! So you've all worked really hard but don't run off yet. We do still have more to do and some collections tomorrow and not forgetting Thursday our final despatch. So shoeboxes to do and if you are fit or know someone who is fit please ask them to pop along on Thursday to help load.  

And lastly today, we always get some super letters from children, who have been generous in their gifts and their thoughts towards another child..... 

SUPER SATURDAY

By now you will all be aware of Black Friday, but if you know about Operation Christmas Child you can leave that madness to others and be part of our SUPER SATURDAY.

Yes, today really was super, we had 92 adult volunteers and lots of children in to help us continue to process shoeboxes, pack cartons but by far the big job of the day was to shift 1,763 cartons, on to the two enormous lorries that were waiting to be filled.

And as in true fashion we filled the first one at record breaking speed with 983 cartons, that is 9,931 shoeboxes. Off he went, driving the shoeboxes to the destination of Montenegro, a distance of just over 2,000 miles.








No sooner was he on his way when the second vehicle was backing into the warehouse, this time a container. The loaders did what can only be described as a fantastic job and without a hitch we were all outside in the Autumn sun blessing the second load and waving it goodbye on the start of its long journey by road and sea to Zimbabwe. On this container we sent 780 cartons containing 8039 shoeboxes.


The warehouse is now much clearer, in fact there is an echo we are not used to!

It was an historic day for us. We have to acknowledge all the people who have played a part in this operation. Big or small everything you have done counts towards nearly 35,000 shoeboxes going to children who are in critical need.

FAST APPROACHING THE END OF THE 2nd WEEK

Friday 28th and almost at the end of the 2nd week. The tide has turned on our vast body of shoeboxes, where they were creeping well towards the tables and covering our marked walkway we can actually see the pile has significantly reduced, bearing in mind we still have been doing collections and people have been bringing shoeboxes in.

This pile of shoeboxes is not nearly so big.

We will be collecting less shoeboxes in the coming days which will allow us to process what we have, get them into cartons and away to their destinations.

Thanks to people who have brought their shoeboxes in and thanks to the drivers who have been driving here, there and everywhere to collect all the boxes.

Michael and his crew of drivers











How many shoeboxes have we done so far?  Processed in our warehouse it is nearly 19,000. Congratulations to all our volunteers. Not just for all the checking but the packing and the fantastic team of ladies who continually keep our fillers tables topped up. This is not an easy job and we keep running out of items. So calling for

1) soft toys
2) toothpaste
3) flannels
4) soap
5) knitted hats, gloves, scarfs etc.

Please help us to fill the last shoeboxes to make each box a fair one.

Visitors today were Lloyds Bank and Cedar Court Care home who knit for us. They knit lots of items and have done for many years.

The MAYOR'S VISIT

Today we had yet another special guest, OCC GU and KT welcomed the Mayor of Guildford. Each year we are very happy to welcome the Mayor and this year is no exception.

The Mayor of Guildford, David, and his wife Wendy arrived at our warehouse not knowing what to expect. This year once again they were overwhelmed with our operation. They stayed for a tour of the office, had some tuition and processed some boxes for us.









During tea/coffee they spoke to everyone thanking them not only for the volunteering work they do here day by day to enable the children to get their shoebox but for the wider community in the GU and KT area work bringing people together throughout the year.








During the morning they spoke to several of our volunteers, Julia, one of our volunteers, showed them how the boxes are processed.

Another surprise today was a guy who walked into the office and tried to tell us in broken English his boss had sent him. We thought to help load the lorry on Saturday. "Hooray", we thought, but not until Saturday, so sent him off. Then later we went outside to see this huge lorry, with the same guy behind the wheel!! Help, "Oh my word" I think he is our driver for Saturday!"
Yes he was... so he is now camping out by the warehouse. Our neighbours are delighted!

OUR SECOND CONTAINER

What an inspirational day, a record number of volunteers, our second container and our mountain of shoeboxes starting to reduce.

Just over a week into our 2014 campaign and we have despatched our second container, this time to Kyrgyzstan. We have been sending shoeboxes there for a number of years now and three of our volunteers have been on distribution trips there too.

Do you know the way to Kyrgyzstan?

DONT WORRY!! Jenny isn't driving ..... much as she'd love to!  All the 873 cartons containing 8970 shoeboxes left the GU KT warehouse safely with a professional driver.

So who helped?..... Everyone! There was loads of muscle to load and thanks for that but all in all its a team effort and here is the team.... well, most of them.

Then we have to ensure the seal is on the closed doors of the container for the safe journey, this will not be opened until the container  arrives in Kyrgyzstan, passed by customs and then opened and despatched to all the different areas the shoeboxes need to travel to in order to reach the children who need them so much.

A VARIETY OF SOURCES

Our shoeboxes come from so many different sources to name a few.... schools, churches, various groups, businesses, families and individuals but now we have a pub on board and a Canal Boat Holiday firm.

Three cheers to The Swan in Walton on Thames a beautiful riverside pub who decided to see if they could get their customers to do shoeboxes and managed a staggering 126 in the first year. We will pop in for a refreshment and say thank you personally, if you are around the Walton area why not give them a try?

Three cheers to Le Boat located in Surbiton who did 74 shoeboxes. Le Boat is a company who rent out canal boats so if you fancy trip down the river, look them up too.

Overall we have lots of different people visiting our warehouse. Today Vera came. Vera as you may know was our treasurer in the past and still loves to come and lend a hand at the warehouse. She knits during the year and makes crafts to go into the shoeboxes too, that is in between celebrating her 90th birthday, holidays and a cruise this year.





Two V.I.P.s dropped into see us today too. Chris Roberts the South of England Cluster Manager from OCC came along with Greg who currently is Acting Director. They were really encouraging and praised everyone for the work, organisation, dedication , particularly since we have been handling more shoeboxes than usual.

School visits. So far we have had Eggars School,  St Hilary's School, Aldro School and Cranleigh School. They love doing shoeboxes as well as coming to the warehouse. It's a wonderful thing to see young people be so inspired to be kind, giving and generous. We see this as growing talent for the future of OCC.

 Cranleigh School, "Thanks for over 200 shoeboxes" and among them were these beautiful boxes ... all four of them

          St Hilary's School, thank you for all your boxes too

And as always we have some beautiful knitted hats and crafts, far too many to show them all but just look at these two photos as and example.

 Small cuddly toys in a knitted bag, thank you everyone for all you do.

IS IT HOT IN HERE?

It seems the temperature is going up every day....
Actually it isn't. We have a thermometer to inform us of the number of boxes we have processed and put into cartons, Gerard our number cruncher keeps us well informed.

If you can't see this it shows we have processed 10,356 shoeboxes last week, we have had 2609 unprocessed boxes from other offices outside of GU & KT. We have have handled 2069 full cartons and so far 8,020 shoeboxes have left our office.

We have just realised it's really handy in telling us what day it is too, after a few busy days we loose track. "Is it Wednesday or Thursday today?" I'll have to go and check the shoebox thermometer. "Oh it's Friday!" the days are flying past.








We do still have a mountain of boxes but it is starting to reduce however, don't relax as we still have lots to do....

No matter how much we have to do we still enjoy ourselves and all know how important the work we do is. However there is always time to have fun and pose for our blog. Here are some of our fillers team who keep the fillers area well-stocked - though we always seem to need more to feed all those boxes.....

SUCH A BUSY SATURDAY

Yes we are celebrating our first container load going on its long journey to all those children who will be made so happy by receiving a shoebox. 8020 children in fact and they live in Zambia, they may not know it yet but for those 8020 children a shoebox full of wonderful gifts are on the way to them right now.

 Unless you came to the warehouse you cannot imagine how many shoeboxes we have... and how many volunteers there are to help. Some loading, some unloading some packing, some checking shoeboxes, some replenishing the fillers, some driving and some counting the money. This couldn't be done without you all.


Everyone is special because you all play a part in the whole thing and sorry we cannot feature you all.  We try hard to include people in our blog and back in October when we had our launch I met Olivia from Tomlinscote School in Frimley. Olivia has been doing shoeboxes for sometime now and this year has made 20 shoeboxes and she funds all the contents and shipping fees out of her birthday, Christmas and pocket money. The boxes were beautifully wrapped and packed with fantastic things. To be fair she did 6 boys and 6 girl boxes. And gives up her time on Saturday to help us.

And EVERY box is special and EVERY box is different we find some wonderful things in boxes and sometimes a letter or card, Today we found a lovely note attached to the inside of a shoebox. Yet another example of how thoughtful and kind people are.

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