Help make Christmas brighter for underprivileged children

The Santa Shoebox Project, South Africa?s beloved children’s charity, will be reaching its one millionth child this year, and invites donors to participate in the momentous event.

The project, which presents thousands of personalised Christmas gifts to underprivileged children each year, is looking forward to announcing the millionth shoebox donated, the millionth shoebox dropped off and the millionth child to receive their shoebox.

“This year we will be celebrating the fact that we’ve made one million Christmases brighter for underprivileged children in South Africa,” said Santa Shoebox CEO Deborah Zelezniak.

“We hope donors will help us achieve this momentous milestone by getting involved and pledging many more shoeboxes this year.”

From September 1, lists of children’s names will be made available via the Santa Shoebox Project at www.santashoebox.org.za

Donors create a supporter profile, and are granted access to the children’s first name, age, gender and clothing size, so they can create personalised gifts for their selected children.

Donors register for a drop-off in their area, which takes place on specific dates in October and November, and create shoeboxes for children living in and around their own community.

The required contents of a Santa Shoebox have been chosen with the underprivileged child in mind:

• A toothbrush and toothpaste
• A facecloth and bar of soap 
• School supplies
• An outfit of clothing
• Sweets
• A toy

All items must be new, unused and age appropriate.

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Extra items are most welcome, as long as they all fit into a medium-sized shoebox – the size of an adult running shoebox.

Extra items could include for example a reusable shopping bag in which the child can carry their shoebox home.

Shoeboxes should be cheerfully decorated, with the lid wrapped separately to the box, allowing it to be opened without damaging the decorations.

In the interests of volunteer and beneficiary safety, donors are asked to please sanitise their hands and wear a mask when packing their shoeboxes, and to do so a minimum of three days prior to dropping their shoeboxes off.

Virtual Santa Shoeboxes are offered to donors who are unable to do their own shopping, packing and dropping off.

These are made by teams of volunteers, and allocated to children living in remote areas of South Africa.

Due to the lack of donors in rural areas, these children would otherwise not receive a Santa Shoebox, and quite possibly no end-of-year gift at all.

Donors interested in contributing to a Virtual Santa Shoebox can visit https://santashoebox.org.za/virtual-santa-shoebox/.

All Santa Shoeboxes are trackable via the Santa Shoebox app which is available from Google Play and the App Store.

Donors can track their shoebox from the moment they pledge to the magical moment the child receives their very own lovingly created Santa Shoebox.

Later in the year, towards the end of October, supporters will be invited to volunteer at their local drop-off; receiving, checking and packing Santa Shoeboxes.

Drop-offs will be conducted in line with prevailing Covid-19 regulations.

For detailed information about how to pledge and how to volunteer, visit the Santa Shoebox Project at https://santashoebox.org.za/

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or Stacy Slatter (news editor) stacys@caxton.co.za

 or Miné Fourie (journalist) minev@caxton.co.za

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