CHRISTMAS SHOEBOX APPEAL

As well as being the month that marks the beginning of autumn and a new academic year, September is a time when our thoughts turn to events like harvest and the start of our Christmas shoebox preparations. Once again we will be supporting ‘Link to Hope’ the Sussex based charity who send shoeboxes to Romania, Moldova, the Ukraine and Bulgaria at Christmas. As in previous years the choice will be whether to fill a shoebox for a family, or whether to do one specifically for an elderly person.

HOWEVER, just when we thought that we had got the hang of how to do them, the charity have revised their requirements based on the actual needs of the people they have been giving the boxes to. As a result, they are requesting that everybox should contain 6 specified essential items, plus 5 (or more) others. This is not as complicated as it sounds and is all made very clear in their new leaflet.

By the time that this article appears, leaflets and empty shoeboxes will be available in all of our churches, so do pick up one of the leaflets and have a read. If you think that you might like to fill a box, just help yourself to a leaflet and a box (if you don’t already have one). Due to people’s generosity we already have a number of items that you may find useful to put into your box. These are freely available, so please help yourself. We will aim to bring a selection of them to most of the 9.15am. services at St. Ippolyts from early September. (Should you have any queries or need any help just ring Christine and Arthur Sibun on

01462-459145). Completed boxes should be returned to church for onward transportation. Further details and deadlines etc. will be

published in next month’s PAX.

Arthur Sibun