Class act! Generous Tullamore schoolkids team up for shoebox appeal

THE boys and girls in teacher Claire Delaney's First Class in Scoil Mhuire, Tullamore organised Team Hope's Christmas Shoebox Appeal and collected almost 100 boxes full of goodies for donation.

The Team Hope Christmas Shoebox Appeal is an annual campaign where thousands of people across Ireland donate shoeboxes filled with gifts for children affected by poverty in Africa or Eastern Europe.

The Team Hope charity said the annual appeal is an opportunity to share a little joy and excitement with children who live in circumstances where these can often be in short supply.

Christmas Shoeboxes are given to children, aged between two and 14 years, in Africa and Eastern Europe.

This year, Team Hope expect to send the Christmas Shoebox gifts to children in Albania, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Kosovo, Lesotho, Malawi, Romania, Rwanda, eSwatini (Swaziland), Transnistria (Moldova) and Ukraine.

Team Hope give the boxes to children who are most vulnerable and in many cases this means children who are living in poverty. They are identified with the help of charities, local churches or with the help of the local government.

Criteria used to identify vulnerable children include children from families affected by poverty (i.e. low income or unemployed households), children from single parent families, or with ill parents, children with no living parents, children living with disabilities or illness, children from ethnic or social groups facing discrimination and children living in institutions (for example orphanages, groups homes etc).

Team Hope advised donors to fill every shoebox with items from “the 4W’s – something to Wash with, something to Write with, something to Wear and something to make a child go Wow!”

They asked donors not to include “scary or war related items”, liquids and large clothes or food, but non perishable sweets were permitted.