SHOEBOX SCHEMES
The Trustees would like to make it clear that we are in no way connected with any other similar Shoebox Scheme.
There has been some recent adverse publicity regarding the ‘Operation Christmas Child’ Shoebox Scheme.
We are aware that some Rotarians and especially some Inner Wheel Clubs tend to confuse the issue by assuming
that all Shoebox Schemes are the same.
This is not the case. The Rotary Shoebox Scheme is completely independent of any other scheme and is completely administered and run by the Rotary Trustees.
Rotary Shoebox Newsletter March 2008
Rotary Shoebox Logo - Children Helping Children

Delivering Shoeboxes to north-west Romania, April 2008

Rotary International Logo
  An RIBI Project
   
  Registered Charity: 1091507 
 

 

At the end of April/early May we made a delivery to north-west Romania of 13,320 Shoebox gifts. Our Shoebox Chairman, Peter Clare, travelled in the lorry which was driven by volunteer Gareth Hughes. Peter reports the following about the distribution of shoeboxes:

Baia Mare

Boxes were delivered to a number of our contacts, the first being ‘Hope and Homes for Children’ based in Baia Mare. Here, over 7,000 of the boxes were unloaded. During the visit there was an opportunity to personally deliver some of the boxes to children in homes, mainly this time teenagers with moderate to severe special needs.

Cluj

Our next stop was south to the town of Cluj. Here we met with Rotarians from the Rotary
Club of Cluj Samos. They took us to the ‘Prison Fellowship’, where we delivered just over 1,000 boxes. We next went to the ‘Excelsior House Project’ to deliver another 1,000 boxes. Here live 18 and 19 year old women who have been in institutions. Volunteers from the house work with blind and partially sighted children, also boys in a special needs unit and gypsies in a local village.
We left a further1,000 boxes with the Rotary Club for distribution by them.

Our next contact was ‘Association Spurgeon’, which is part of Fundata Spurgeon under UK supervision and was also known as Spurgeons Child Care, with whom we have worked for many years. This was based at a village called Tinaud, west of Cluj. Here 1,240 boxes were left with them, to distribute to three different projects that they are involved with in the area.

Oradea

We then drove west to our last drop-off at Oradea, just near the Hungarian border. This is a new contact for us and the remaining 2,370 boxes were unloaded here. We first became aware of this contact through Rotarian Ian MacKenzie of the Rotary Club of Ellesmere Port.  Ian was in the Construction Industry and while involved in building social housing near Oradea, he met Nicu Gal who later started a project called ‘People to People’. This project helps displaced and disadvantaged children and families in the area. It also works to integrate the local gypsy families into society and a primary school has been built for Roma and non-Roma children.
‘People to People’ have received shoebox gifts in the past from a shoebox scheme called ‘21st Century Child’ based at Chester. Several Rotary Clubs in District 1180 have supported this in the past including Ellesmere Port, Wallasey and Birkenhead. The scheme folded last year and we at the Rotary Shoebox Scheme offered to help with gifts this year and were pleased to be able to meet up with Ian and Nicu in Oradea.

(picture shows: Ian MacKenzie, Peter Clare and Nicu Gal meeting up in Oradea.)

Donations

With the economic problems in general that the country seems to be facing these days, the dramatic rise in fuel costs over the past twelve months has presented us in particular with some headaches. Added to this, increased road tax and insurance costs are forcing us to look again at our finances.
While many Rotary Clubs use the Shoebox Scheme there are others who support us in principle but who do not actively fill boxes.
If yours is such a Club, then please consider making a donation to help towards the cost of delivering the box gifts to Eastern Europe.
We do have individual schools throughout the country who fill Rotary boxes but are not connected to a particular Rotary Club. They find it hard to contribute fully towards the cost of delivering their filled boxes. Perhaps you could consider sponsoring such a school.

The Rotary Shoebox Scheme is not just for Christmas!

The Scheme

Originally started in District 1280 in 1994, the Rotary Shoebox Scheme was then intended to provide children of Iasi, in north-east Romania with Christmas gifts. Since then, the scheme has become an RIBI International Project and every District in RIBI is involved in this popular Scheme.

Gifts are now sent out throughout the year to many different countries in Central  and Eastern Europe. Toys are especially useful all year round for Birthday presents in the Orphanages, Homes and Hospitals. All age groups, including teenagers, have welcomed the boxes.

In addition to Romania, Shoebox gifts have been delivered to Belarus, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Albania, Croatia and Kosovo.

Each year we now send around 60,000 Shoeboxes or gifts. SEE RECENT DELIVERIES

The strengths of the Rotary Shoebox Scheme over other similar schemes are:

1 It operates all year round.

2 The boxes are distributed to known contacts

3 We can guarantee that every Shoebox goes to a deserving child or family.

The boxes now travel either overland by lorry, or by sea container. We use the services of International Aid Trust (IAT), a Christian Charity who have a long association with Rotary in the north-west of England and who help with both Transportation and Warehouse storage.

Distribution is always through known contacts.

We are officially tied in with Hope & Homes and regularly supply their foster homes with boxes of gifts.

Spurgeons Child Care have been involved with the scheme since its inception and we deliver to their many children’s homes throughout Romania on a regular basis.

The Rotary Club of Iasi are also regular distributors for us to Orphanages and Children’s Hospitals in the area.

IAT also have some children’s homes and camps in Belarus and Ukraine where we deliver.

Have you tried it yet?

The Shoebox Scheme is easy for clubs to operate and ultimately fulfils the Rotary ethic of individual time involvement. By visiting schools or youth groups to collect the filled boxes, there is an opportunity to address the children about how and to whom the boxes will be delivered. A short explanation of Rotary can easily be slotted in.

The advantage with the scheme is that it can be both a geography and social lesson for the children. However, the main advantage is that it can be a positive way for ‘Children to Help Children.’

Leon MacLeod
PR Rotary Shoebox Scheme