Team Hope’s Christmas Shoebox Appeal is an annual campaign that delivers gifts straight into the hands of children affected by poverty. Often these shoebox gifts are the only gift that a child will receive at Christmas and the joy that they bring is incredible. Since 2010, with your help, we have delivered over 2.1 million Shoebox gifts to vulnerable children across the world.
Every year we are proud to support the Team Hope Christmas Shoebox Appeal in school and we hope that every pupil will participate by bringing in a filled and wrapped shoebox to give to children in the world far less fortunate than any of us.
** We also accept filled shoeboxes from friends and neighbours in the Blackrock Community **
Leaflets are sent home with all pupils and we ask you to fill up a shoebox with simple Christmas gifts and return it to school any time between now and Tuesday the 8th of November, 2022. We prefer they be brought to us before the Halloween Mid-Term Break. The filled shoeboxes are then collected from the school by the volunteers from Team Hope. These volunteers work hard to check that all Christmas shoeboxes meet with customs and safety requirements, they seal them and send them on their way by truck or shipping container and then their international partners will deliver your shoebox right into a child’s hands – in hospitals, schools, shelters, churches, orphanages, community centres, mountain villages and family homes.
In the coming days the class teachers will be talking to the pupils about the work of Team Hope, explaining how the shoebox appeal works and showing them a video of where their shoeboxes go.
Fill a Box – 5 Simple Steps to Follow
- Grab a Shoe box (or a plastic container would be great)! Wrap the box and lid separately with Christmas paper.
- Use the boy/girl sticker from leaflet and choose who you want to give your Christmas shoebox to and what age.
- Fill the box. Get as creative as you like and have some fun with this! You can use our Four W’s (see below) as a rough guide.
- Close the box:
* Include €4 in your leaflet envelope either on top of the gifts or taped to the inside of the lid.
* To make it easier you can donate your €4 on the Team Hope secure on-line site.
* With elastic band – please don’t seal with tape as we need to check contents to comply with regulations. - Bring it in to school by Tuesday the 8th of November, preferably before the upcoming mid-term break.
What can I put in my box?
Please put in a selection of small gifts from the options below (out of respect for the children we ask that all items be new, or good as new):
TO WRITE – Items for school – like a pen, pencil, copy book, paper, colouring book, felt pens, sharpener, eraser, solar calculator.
TO WASH – Some hygiene items – toothbrush and toothpaste, soap (wrapped please), facecloth, hairbrush, comb.
TO WEAR – Small clothing items – a hat, scarf, gloves, socks or underwear
TO WOW! – A treat – sunglasses, game, small Irish gift, a photo of yourself, sweets (must be in date until at least March 2023), make up, a small musical instrument, toys like a doll, a car, cuddly toy, skipping rope, yo-yo, a finger puppet.
Please don’t put in…
Food (apart from sweets), chocolate, medicines of any kind, war related items, large clothing items, anything breakable, any liquids that could spill or freeze, sharp items, scary things (like Halloween stuff, or skull and crossbones or books with words).
Your filled and wrapped shoebox can be returned to the school any time between now and Tuesday the 8th of November and all shoeboxes will be stacked outside of the respective classrooms.
If every pupil and staff member brings in a shoebox this year, we will have well over 450! Thank you for your support.
For more information, please visit the Team Hope Shoebox Appeal Website.
