Blythswood Shoe Box Appeal hits 75,000 total
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The Shoe Box Appeal run by Highland-based charity Blythswood Care has been declared a success despite Covid-19 restrictions.
With the last lorry leaving a sorting station in Kent today – bound for Romania – the charity has now sent 75,218 gift-filled boxes to eight countries in Eastern Europe.
"Other than Inverness and Perth, all our sorting processes took place in lockdown situations," says Blythswood’s head of projects, Finlay Mackenzie.
"Our staff and volunteers showed incredible commitment to get the job done and ensure that people in need will receive these gifts."
Other sorting stations included Glasgow, Irvine, Antrim, Ballyclare, Barrington in Somerset and Cloverly Hall in Shropshire.
Fourteen lorry-loads were sent to Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Kosovo, Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine where the gifts are being distributed in hospitals, orphanages, care homes, low-income communities and to homeless people.
"This year these gifts are more important than ever," Finlay says.
"So many people in these countries have been hit by loss of jobs and loss of income remitted from other parts of Europe.
"Although we didn’t have as many boxes as in previous years, we were able to take advantage of space in the lorries by adding toiletries and warm items of clothing.
"I want to thank everyone who supported this appeal by filling a box and by volunteering their time.
"Our Inverness sort station alone processed 22,000 boxes.
"It’s a job well done and I know these gifts will really be appreciated by those who receive them.”
One of the first boxes to be handed out this winter went to four-year-old Ismedin, in Gjakova, Kosovo, where 11 members of his extended family occupy a single-roomed dwelling.
Shoebox distributor Faton Berisha describes their living conditions as difficult in winter and says: "Ismedin was very happy with his shoebox, especially when he found a toy, hat, gloves and sweets."
