Shoebox appeals fear people to miss out over costs

Organisers of Christmas shoebox appeals are fearing people could be left out this year as donations drop due to people facing cost of living struggles.

Age Concern Tyneside South, which gives shoeboxes filled with Christmas presents to local lonely and vulnerable people aged over 50, feared they could be left with 200 to 300 shoeboxes - down from about the usual figure of 700.

Meanwhile, Link to Hope North East - which sends them to Eastern European children - said it had to be "careful" as it collected shoeboxes across the region due to fuel prices.

In Ulverston, St Bethany's Church has knitted its own gifts to help fill shoeboxes being sent to children overseas by charity Samaritan's Purse.

Already, Age Concern Tyneside South said its shoebox appeal was down on donations compared to this time last year - not just in terms of shoeboxes themselves, but the amount of gifts packed into them.

CEO Grahame Cassidy said: "We've put aside money this year to top them up, enough to make someone cheery rather than depressed someone can't afford to give them very much."

Rising food costs, winter energy bills, and prices at the pump had left people with less money to donate to charities, he said.

Nearly half the population in South Tyneside lives in areas ranked among the 20% most deprived in England, according to the council, with Cassidy saying "there isn't a huge amount of money going around".

Pressure was squeezing the charity on both sides, he said, with fewer people donating due to financial challenges, but those same challenges are pushing more people into needing support.

"We'll have to cut our cloth according to what comes in and that will mean letting some people down - it's not a nice position to be in, but it's a real position."

At St Bethany's Church, volunteers at the Makers Meet craft group have been put to work crafting handmade gifts to help fill shoeboxes - so far sealing the lid on 100.

They had been focusing on making gifts such as crocheted dolls and ribbons for dancing with, group leader Sally Clark said, to help ease pressure on donors to buy expensive toys.

However, they had also made hats, cuddly toys, and even cut up church paper to create notebooks for colouring and drawing.

The boxes are handed over to the Samaritan's Purse charity and given out to children across the world.

"It's been quite challenging with this cost of living going up because the shoe boxes have to be filled with new items, not second hand," Sally said.

"It's not accessible for everybody to go out and fill a shoebox."

The church had also been designated a drop-off point for the local area, which she said was "amazing" because the closest had previously been about 20 miles (32km) away in Kendal - again, costing more in fuel.

Also feeling the price of fuel was the Gateshead-based Link to Hope Shoebox Hub, which collects shoeboxes across the North East, Cumbria, and even ventures as far north as Perth in Scotland.

The shoeboxes are then driven to the charity's main base in West Sussex, before being transported to impoverished children in Eastern Europe.

"We put some miles on, we just trust that people's gifts can cover the costs," said Jim Thompson, a volunteer driver, adding: "We just be as careful as we can."

Similarly to South Tyneside, less shoeboxes were passing through his hands this year than previous years, and he said more groups were filling one as a pair or trio - rather than by themselves.

But the retiree, who travels to Eastern Europe himself to hand out the boxes, urged people to keep donating.

"It's an exciting experience when people are so thankful for such small gifts; to see a teenager dancing because she got a tennis ball, that was a very humbling experience for me," he said.

"We went to an orphanage and somebody had put a chocolate orange in there, and this little lad was so excited he put every piece of every segment in his mouth.

"They now are sure they are not forgotten, you can bring joy that's in the box and let them know somebody cares."

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