People have once again rallied round an annual Huddersfield campaign to send Christmas gifts to children living in dire deprivation in Ukraine.

Huddersfield Hub readers were urged to get involved by donating shoeboxes filled with presents for youngsters who literally have nothing … and you did with 3,469 shoeboxes now on their way, more than 300 up on last year’s figure of 3,149.

Since 2006 the Meltham Shoebox Campaign, based at St James’ Church in Meltham Mills, has filled shoeboxes with goodies and sent them to children aged three to 14. It’s been a major operation involving 100 kind-hearted volunteers and Meltham transport and storage company Tay Trans which stores the filled shoeboxes and transports them throughout the UK.

The Crossroads Project charity shop, food bank and advice centre in Meltham collects boxes and also sells anything that can’t be sent to the children.

Each box is different and the kind of items in them include toys, toothbrush and toothpaste, a hairbrush, comb, hair accessories, soap and facecloth, notebook, pencils, rubbers, crayons, gloves, hat and scarf, new socks and underwear, a small game, puzzle, sweets and a small Christmas decoration.

The Meltham campaign comes under a larger charity called T4U (Teams For You) set up in Wrexham, North Wales, by founder Dave Cooke. Since 2013 it has sent around 250,000 boxes and its website is https://teams4u.com/

 

 

Judith Powell, regional coordinator for Teams 4U, said: “We cannot know just what families are going through in a country at war.

“Most of us have never experienced conflict in our land. We can only hope that these wonderful shoeboxes filled with the love of folk in West Yorkshire can give a little light to the lives of children and their families in the Ukraine.

“Thank you to everyone who filled and donated a box and also to the team at Tay Trans, the Crossroads shop and the Meltham Shoebox Team.”

Meltham Shoebox Campaign media officer Rena Souten added: “Our aim is to make a difference in the lives of children who find themselves in desperate and hopeless situations.

“These gifts don’t fix the problems in their lives but they make a difference, showing these children that someone, somewhere cares for them.

“Each box is just a gift to brighten their day and make them feel special. We are all doing our best to give a child a reason to smile.”

Written by ANDY HIRST who runs his own Yorkshire freelance journalism agency AH! PR (https://ah-pr.com/) specialising in press releases, blogging, website content, copywriting and ghost-writing autobiographies.

 

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