POLOKWANE – You can make a difference to an underpriviledged child’s life by pledging a box filled with personalised Christmas gifts.

The Santa Shoebox project began in 2006, in Cape Town, with only 180 shoeboxes and since then it has grown to more than 652 180 shoeboxes each year. This year, the project will be reaching its one millionth child.

Each year the project invites organisations which deal with or care for underprivileged children, orphanages, schools or children’s homes to apply to be beneficiaries of the project and this year, the project received 2 430 applications. All of these applications are vetted by Santa Shoebox Project coordinators before they are approved.

The project’s national sponsorship and regional manager for Gauteng, Free State, North West, Port Elizabeth and East London, Margie Kostelac, said the interest so far has been overwhelming, largely credited to publicity given by Caxton Local Media newspapers across the country.

“It is the first year we have had such widespread coverage and the response has been amazing. We look forward to further support from the Caxton group as pledging opens and we work towards distributing the thousands of beautifully decorated shoeboxes to underprivileged children throughout South Africa and Namibia later this year,” Margie said. S

he explained that when pledging opens on 1 September, names of recipients are published per area and supporters can then visit santashoebox.org.za, and select the recipient of their shoebox by name, age and gender. “You can select as many recipients as you like. The children’s privacy and rights are upheld throughout the process and we take active steps to prevent third parties from interfering with and violating the children’s rights. To protect the identity of the recipient children in our project, we no longer display a list of children’s names in direct association with the name of a facility in a public domain, such as our website. This ensures that no one from the public will gain access to a named child through our website,” she added.

The Santa Shoebox Project recommends a special toy or gift in the box too, but this is a bonus for the children, as the aim is to give them items they really need.

Items include a toothbrush, toothpaste, facecloth, soap, age-appropriate stationery items, an outfit of clothing, an age-appropriate toy and sweets.

Virtual Santa Shoeboxes caters mainly to supporters outside South Africa who are not able to physically make up a shoebox and get it to a drop-off point. They buy a shoebox at a cost of R450 and the project creates one for them. The virtual shoeboxes are specifically distributed in rural areas where the donor capacity is low.

To participate:

• Visit santashoebox.org.za

• Register as a supporter.

• Pick a convenient drop-off point that you can reach on the specified date.

• From September 1, when pledging begins, pledge a shoebox by selecting one or more recipients by name, age and gender.

• Print your QR-coded shoebox labels.

• Decorate or fill your shoebox according to the guidelines found on the website or Facebook page.

• Drop your shoebox at your selected drop-off point on the designated date.

For more information about the Santa Shoebox Project, contact Margie at margie@santashoebox.org.za