By now it’s not news to us that large public gatherings won’t be taking place in July 2020. While that is of course disappointing, the Santa Shoebox Project is nonetheless able to offer a rewarding and meaningful way to contribute on Mandela Day this year.

On Saturday, 18 July the new Virtual Santa Shoebox online journey is being launched. For the first time, Personalised Virtual Santa Shoeboxes will be trackable, along with Traditional Santa Shoeboxes, via the Santa Shoebox app, which is available from Google Play and the App Store.

By following the prompts on their website from 18 July, supporters will be able to choose their Virtual Santa Shoebox beneficiary child/ren by name, age and gender, select the items to be included in the Shoebox, write the child a note, and the organisation will do the rest.

Virtual Santa Shoeboxes 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. In 2020, with the massive economic impact of Covid-19, the value of a Santa Shoebox to an underprivileged child is unquestionable.

Every Virtual Santa Shoebox contains all eight required items:

• toothpaste and toothbrush
• soap and a facecloth
• sweets
• a toy
• school supplies
• an outfit of clothing

Additional sponsored items are added as available and age-appropriate. In the past these have included books, lunch boxes and drinking bottles, teen hygiene products, magazines and fluffy toys.

Traditional Santa Shoebox pledging opens to the public on 1 September for those donors who prefer to do their own shopping, decorating, packing and dropping off. Register or login on the Santa Shoebox Home page now to ensure your donor profile is up to date https://santashoebox.org.za/

Later in the year, towards the end of October, supporters will be invited to spend their 67 minutes of service volunteering at their local drop-off – receiving, checking and packing Santa Shoeboxes. Drop-offs will of course be done in keeping with prevailing Covid-19 regulations.

For detailed information about how to volunteer, please visit the Santa Shoebox Project website.