LOCAL volunteer area coordinators Helen Wray and Heather Ellis are appealing for donations for this year’s annual Operation Christmas Child charity shoeboxes.

Operation Christmas Child is part of Samaritan’s Purse and provides shoeboxes packed with gifts to underprivileged children around the world.

Helen, Heather and their team of volunteers last year packed and processed more than 2,500 boxes from all around the Bovey Tracey area. They collect from schools, churches and community groups as well as individual donations. Drop off points can be found in Bovey Tracey Library, Newton Abbot Leisure Centre, Shoe Zone and St Paul’s Church, both in Newton Abbot.

Once the shoeboxes are collected by the team, they are processed in Dartmoor Garages, Bovey Tracey.

They kindly lend indoor space for storage and packing throughout November, and their forecourt for lorries to collect and transport the boxes to Exeter, from where they are taken directly to their final destination. Once checked and taped shut in Bovey Tracey, the boxes are not touched again until they are opened by the child recipient. Typically, shoeboxes from this area go to Belarus, the Ukraine and Romania.

This year Helen, Heather and the team are working in the garage from November 1-18 and would welcome as many boxes as possible. Each year they try to send off more shoeboxes than the year before, trying to reach more and more underprivileged children. The collection and processing of boxes is on a tight timescale to enable them to be transported to the children in time for Christmas. If you are, for whatever reason, not able to fill a box, they always have need of extra fillers such as cuddly toys, wrapped sweets (not chocolate), small toys, hair accessories, balls, toy cars, small dolls, gloves, hats, scarves, toothbrushes and toothpaste. These can be left in the donation box at Dartmoor Garages or any of the drop off points mentioned above.

Helen and Heather would like to thank all their wonderful helpers and local businesses including Dartmoor Garages, The House of Marbles and Wholesale Stationers (Devon) Ltd for their valuable contributions and support.

If you have any questions on how you can help Operation Christmas Child, contact Helen or Heather at [email protected].