My Shoebox Journey — Intro

3 min readDec 19, 2019

Taking the next step

Emma (Left) and Me — this is what 717 boxes look like!

I have supported Shoebox Appeals since I was a child via the church I grew up in — Chorley Community Church in Dalston, NE London. My best friend Emma and I started with Aunty Irene doing a couple of boxes a year for another charity. We did this simply because we wanted to send a gift to others in need at Christmas. As we got older, we started to increase the number of boxes each year. We used to spend our weekends schlepping from one retail park to another, collecting shoeboxes and raising money from the congregation to buy things needed for the boxes, figuring out where to get the cheapest toothpaste and buying wool for all the keen knitters. I can’t remember when the tipping point was but 20 years later, we find ourselves as area coordinators for Link to Hope, generating £2k — £3k per campaign in online donations, gifts worth hundreds of pounds and a network of supporters and sponsors who surprise us each year with their generosity.

We host an annual packing party where we invite the local community to help us fulfil, wrap and process the boxes. Over the last few years we’ve ended up with anywhere from 300–1,000 boxes, we never know what will turn up in the weeks running up to the party or on the day and we love the surprises we receive! With Christmas music on in the background and enough food to feed an army (courtesy of our Mums) we have approx. 100 people in and out of the church during a 12 hour stretch, packing, wrapping, checking, processing — it’s a real team effort, with a job for everyone ranging from three years old to a lady in her 90s!

Our amazing team of volunteers at the 2019 Shoebox Packing Party at Chorley Commnunity Church, N1

We chose Link to Hope because they a small UK charity, they focus on four countries in Eastern Europe and seem to have an incredible track record of running successful education and social care projects. I’ve often wondered about how the Shoebox Appeal is managed and how the boxes are delivered. I have wanted to go on a trip for years — to go behind the photos and edited videos we see and share each year.

I’m delighted and also nervous to be joining the Charity CEO Lisa Hector and the team this year and I do so on behalf of Emma and all the team.

Here goes…

The boxes were collected and taken to the Link to Hope warehouse in Worthing.

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My Shoebox Journey — Intro

Written by Jasmine Plowright

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