144 - Helping Sheffield Shoebox Appeal reach their Christmas target - Dec 2023



This week we have made a festive donation of £500 to the Sheffield Shoebox Appeal.

This incredible project is organised by a small team, who work closely with local charities and service providers to provide a bit of Christmas cheer for the homeless, people in hostels, temporary accommodation and safe refuges, and the socially isolated elderly. 


They begin in September, asking people to put together shoe boxes full of treats and luxury items, including hats, gloves, socks, toiletries, chocolates and small games/puzzles.  A lot of schools and community groups support them and in October they open up drop off points to collect the donations together.


This year the appeal celebrated its 10th anniversary, but as the deadline for receiving boxes from the public approached, they found they were short of over 100 boxes and were particularly low on boxes suitable for men.  For many of these people, this will be the only Christmas present they get. 


When we heard their concerns about not being able to gift boxes to all the organisations they would normally support, we asked if a donation from us would help.  Our £500 meant the organisers were able to buy supplies for a number of additional boxes to allow them to meet their target and ensure more people receive a Christmas present this year.


In total the Appeal has distributed 2500 shoeboxes to 42 different charities and services - 1039 male, 1076 female, 43 mother & baby and 341 elderly.   What an amazing achievement for the organizers.  We are pleased to have been able to help.


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