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.....