A Sunderland church is continuing a 35-year-old tradition of supporting disadvantaged children in the run-up to Christmas.
Every year, shoeboxes filled with toys and everyday essentials are sent to children in Romania and other parts of the world, from St George’s in Fatfield, Washington.
The church acts as a collection centre for the local community to donate shoeboxes. This year, no fewer than 260 boxes were brought to St George’s from generous individuals, schools, businesses and community organisations.
The initiative first began at St George’s in the early 1990s, when the late Kate Grimwood and Arthur Ridley, now in his 80s, were touched by images of orphanages in Romania.
It led to a project, originally called Love in a Shoebox, which involved crafters from the church knitting hats and scarves for shoeboxes, before evolving into a much bigger initiative.
It eventually became part of Operation Christmas Child, ran by the Samaritan’s Purse, and involved the hiring of warehouses for storage, vans for collection deliveries, and thousands of shoeboxes being donated.
Now the project runs differently with regional distribution centres (the closest being Leeds), so St George’s now acts as a local collection centre. It now deals with hundreds, rather than thousands of shoeboxes, but there remains a strong desire from within the church and surrounding community to give and support.
The initiative has gone full circle with growing interest from young parents who remember being involved when they were children themselves. They have donated generously.
St George’s also makes a financial contribution to the scheme as part of its World Giving programme, in which it supports local, national and international organisations.
It’s hoped that the church’s new café group – Craft and Chatter – will lead to a revival of the knitting of hats and scarves which was crucial to the project’s early years.
Current organisers Gail and Peter Watson (pictured above) are assisted by team of dedicated volunteers at St George's.