Our Best Ever Love in a Box!

386 boxes

£2004 cash donated

bringing Christmas to nearly 400 children in Eastern Europe

OUR BEST EVER LOVE IN A BOX

With huge thanks to Naomi McAllister, Candice Courtney and the other mums who helped wrap, sort and load up.

previously...

Love in a Box - all set to break last year's record...

When PTA mum Naomi McAllister hosted her action-packed assemblies, enlisting children from across the Upper School to help her demonstrate how to choose stuff for, and pack, their decorated shoeboxes, we detailed a target of one box per family: 450 boxes. We also watched a very cheering video, made by the Mustard Seed Relief Mission, showing the reaction from the children in Moldova to last year's boxes.

Charity Prefect Jamie Shepherd made it very clear that this is to be a record-breaking year and said that he would be disappointed if we didn't "smash through" last year's tally of 320 boxes and £1,600 donated. The cash donations are nearly as important as the boxes themselves as this pays for the administration and logistics of delivering presents to Eastern Europe at a cost of £4 per box.

A show of hands from Years 3-8 revealed that nearly every child in the Upper School intends to make up a box - a fantastic result if that were to come to pass. Planning the shopping list for each box during half term is the first step, which is why detailed guidance leaflets are being sent home this week. Extra leaflets and spare shoeboxes will be available just inside the double doors from the Apple Courtyard (opposite the visitor toilets).

Thanks, as ever, to the trusty team of PTA volunteers who collect, sort, wrap and prepare the boxes for shipment throughout November.

This year's deadline is Monday 18th November.

Click below to see two of our alumni demonstrating, Blue Peter style, how to make the perfect Christmas box - aided by a little bit of magic right at the end!

A few reminders about what to include:

• NO FOOD except sweets and chocolate
• NO WAR RELATED ITEMS AT ALL
• NO BOOKS, although picture books for the younger age groups are OK - there is no point including English language books for the children; they won’t be able to read them
• NO CLOTHES except hats, scarves or gloves and these should be new
• All gifts, toys, stationery, toiletries, etc, MUST BE NEW
• Do please aim for a balance of practical items (toothbrush/toothpaste, gloves, hat, toiletries), fun or useful items (toys, games and stationery) and treats (sweets and chocolate) however, don’t feel you have to get everything on the list in the leaflet
• Remember to include a minimum donation of £4 per box

There are many opportunities to donate secondhand toys, games and clothes to charity but this is not one of them (later this month we will be collecting certain secondhand items for the Christmas Fair). As a general rule, if you or your children would not want to receive or use the items in the box, please don’t include them. There are many inexpensive places to find suitable items for a gift box such as supermarkets, Tiger, Poundland - it does not have to cost a fortune, but it should look and feel like a present. This is a very worthwhile charity project and a chance for each Newton Prep child to transform the Christmas of another child through an act of kindness. We have already seen many wonderful boxes this week and your generosity is greatly appreciated.

If you have the time or the means to help further, please consider:

• giving up a bit of time to help check boxes in the morning after drop-off (sign in first at Reception)
• making a donation of money (either to the charity directly, or specifically to buy additional items for boxes)
• giving quantities of useful items (e.g. a parent who is a dentist has generously donated a large number of children’s toothbrushes and toothpaste to top up many of our boxes). If you have a large quantity of wrapped sweets or chocolate - e.g. leftover from Halloween - or multi-packs of surplus items for children’s party bags, etc, we can make use of these too.

If you have any questions, please contact Naomi McAllister via classlist.com