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Samaritans Purse Christmas Shoebox Appeal

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As Christmas 2023 is approaching, Edward Mellor Estate Agents will again be supporting Samaritans Purse, and all our Edward Mellor Branches throughout the area will be local drop-off points. Find your nearest Edward Mellor Branch.

Samaritans Purse is an international relief and development organisation that works through local churches and communities in Africa, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. Samaritans Purse is a global family and has been helping to provide aid to people around the world since 1970.

Edward Mellor has now been part of the Operation Christmas Child initiative for a number of years, along with many other businesses, schools, and churches across the UK  – all coming together to send Christmas shoeboxes overseas to children and families that are less fortunate at Christmas time.

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The journey of a Christmas shoebox gift begins with you!

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Since 1990 more than 186 million children in over 160 countries have received a shoebox gift and we want to continue helping and sending gifts but we need your help to do this too.

If you would like to help get as many shoebox gifts together all you need to do is:

• Ask family and friends if they would like to do the shoebox gift with you, maybe you have children and they will enjoy doing this knowing that it is going to make a child very happy to receive a gift from them.
• You need a simple shoebox that you can pack with gifts, and make to look all Christmassy decorating or wrapping the box and the lid separately before you start to put gifts into the box. If there are a number of you doing this you can also purchase pre-printed shoeboxes but recycling is always great to do too.
• Mark on the box if it is for a girl or a boy and the age category the gift would be suitable for – attach the label on the outside of the box. Age categories are 2-4 years, 5-9 years, and 10-14 years.
• You can fill the box with a variety of gifts that will bring a smile to a child’s face, but there are some gifts that can not be accepted and will be removed from the box when it is checked. Take a look at what is a good gift and what is not.
• You can drop your box off at an Edward Mellor branch any time but the national collection week is from the 13th to the 20th of November 2023.

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What can I put in the shoebox?

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Include a toy or an item that they will instantly love as soon as they open the box, something that they can connect with. Ideas for example would be a cuddly toy, a deflated football, a toy truck, a doll, or a musical instrument. You can even add a personal note and photo so they can see where their gift has come from.

Visit https://www.samaritans-purse.org.uk/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/what-goes-in-my-shoebox/ to view more ideas for your box.

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Donation and tracking your shoebox

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You will also be able to track your box to see where it goes. Samaritans Purse would very much appreciate a donation of £5 for each box that is sent which helps towards sending the shoe box overseas and enabling training and leading children’s events. Once you have made the donation payment online you will receive a barcode to download and print off – this barcode will be your tracker and one needs to be placed inside each shoebox you have put together.

In the New Year, you will then receive an email to tell you where your Christmas shoebox was delivered to.

This is a wonderful gift for a child to receive and we hope you will join all of us at Edward Mellor in putting a shoebox together.

For more information visit https://www.samaritans-purse.org.uk/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/