BLYTHSWOOD APPEAL DELIVERS 83,000 SHOE BOXES

Blythswood Care’s 2021 Shoe Box Appeal delivered almost 83,000 boxes to eight countries in Eastern Europe.

Filled with small, practical items such as toiletries, stationery and clothing, the boxes have been distributed in schools, hospitals, orphanages and care homes, and to households in very low income communities.

Blythswood’s head of projects, Finlay Mackenzie, said: “It has been another tremendous effort by donors and volunteers. We received boxes from Shetland to Cornwall and from Kent to Northern Ireland.

“Because it’s not so easy to send boxes to European Union countries, we sent more than previously to Kosovo, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine.”

Sorting stations in which donated boxes are checked and processed by volunteers who followed Covid safety guidelines with social distancing, face masks and hand sanitiser. “I’m glad we completed the process before the Omicron wave arrived,” Finlay said. “It has been a real logistical challenge but those who organise sorting stations were building on experience from last year.”