Happy Child logo

Charity boxes a success

November 20, 2006, 0:00 2934 www.nwemail.co.uk

BIG-HEARTED: Pupils of Newton Village School are pictured gathering part of their annual shoebox collection, for the Operation Christmas Child project JON GRANGER REF: 0363293

HUNDREDS of the world’s poorest children will receive boxes filled with toys and treats this Christmas packed by generous South Cumbrians.

People across Furness have been rushing to fill shoeboxes ahead of the final collection date on Monday.

The shoeboxes will be shipped over to Eastern Europe under the Operation Christmas Child scheme, run by the Christian relief and evangelism organisation Samaritan’s Purse.

Student Nicola Mathie, 17, has been encouraging her peers at Barrow Sixth Form College to get behind the scheme.

“Everyone’s really taken it in their stride and got into the spirit of it,” said Miss Mathie, from Settle Street, Millom.

“I thought it would be a really good thing to do because I did it at Millom School and after watching the DVD it showed what a big difference it can make to children’s lives.”

Tracy Wells has been collecting shoeboxes in memory of her late friend, the singer-songwriter Anne Fitzpatrick. The friends started collecting for Operation Christmas Child three years ago and Mrs Wells decided to continue the collection at her salon in Scott Street, Barrow, this year after Mrs Fitzpatrick lost her battle with ovarian cancer in February.

She sent 100 boxes off to the Kendal warehouse on Monday and has over 104 boxes collected this week to send on Monday, the final collection date.

All the boxes collected from South Cumbria will be sent to deprived children in Kiev, in the Ukraine.

Mrs Wells said: “I would like to thank the Evening Mail for the publicity behind Operation Christmas Child.

“The response has been fantastic and I know Anne would have been really thrilled.

“This year we’ve excelled and sent more shoeboxes than the first two years put together. I’d like to thank everyone involved.”

The final date to hand in boxes is Monday at Co-op Funeral Services, in Roose Road, Barrow.

Happy Child foundation - effective help to the most needy children of the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine

They need help:
Misha Zavorotnii
Misha Zavorotnii

Organic damage to the central nervous system, complex metabolic disorder

Help now
Oleksii Velkyi
Oleksii Velkyi

Cerebral palsy

Help now

You donated in 2025

$ 375 573

Our expenses in 2025
To 93 sick children $79 798
Medical equipment: $23 022
Humanitarian help: $132 448
To disabled children: $49 827
To children's village: $3 340
To orphans and poor children: $8 837
"Helpus" - help to adults: $9 901
Service expenses: $33 050
Total sum of expenses: $355 224

$7 426 905

donated since 2007