Tired, Relieved and a Bit Sad

Unbelievably it's the last day.

It's hard work filling a container

Hasn't time flown? It seems hardly any time since we were looking for a warehouse, well, let's be honest it's NOT that long since we were looking for a warehouse as it was a close call, but "phew" we did get one and what a warehouse it was, we were all very happy with all the space we had. So yes, time has flown since we were setting up, emptying our lofts, sheds, garages and spare rooms.  Today we spent a great deal of the day clearing and packing up.
Tired. It has been full on with trying to keep up with the whole process to achieve the number of boxes we have checked and made ourselves. Did you know we processed 14,627 boxes, that is only 373 boxes short of our 15,000 target and 125 less than last year? Many warehouses are 10% down…. thankfully not the GU Area.
Relieved. That it went so smoothly, thanks to our fantastic team who are just brilliant. Thanks to Carolyn who has given us a solid foundation to build on and thanks to Heather for her organisational skills.
A Bit Sad. That it's all over and gone so fast, we had to say goodbye to all our friends who have become so close. Also some of us are wondering what ARE we going to do with ourselves now? Thankfully it's Christmas! That should take up some of our time!!

Yes those last couple of cartons

Another Container
Today we sent our second container, that was 824 cartons which is 8094 shoeboxes. That number includes some of Esher's boxes. There are off to Azerbaijan. The rest in the warehouse will be collected by Eastleigh tomorrow and then on their way to Swaziland .

Container packed and ready for the off

What's Next?
Well, we all go off and catch up on all the things we have ignored for three weeks and then enjoy the festive season. Naturally we start all over again, we will be encouraging others to do shoeboxes, giving talks and collecting fillers, those lofts will not be empty for long.

Heather handing over to Darren

Of course we will have a Thank You evening which you will be invited too but for the warehouse, we won't be there next year as Darren is starting an exciting new venture. Hopefully by March 2014 it will be all set up to be a trampoline venue, called Air Hop. We will be keeping in touch with Darren as he was really taken with our operation and wants to keep in touch, likewise we will be popping in to see him and his team and see how his business develops.

Last goodbye in an empty warehouse

And of course, thanks to Jenny for writing the blog!

Hard Work but Fun

With Lots of Treats too

There is no doubt we have worked hard, there have been some super treats too. Like the day 70 doughnuts were brought in. Two of our team decided to bring in a treat, they both picked doughnuts and we then had loads. No one complained though and they all disappeared!
Lots of you have made cakes and biscuits, one of the favourites was Fruity Cornflake Biscuits, so here is the recipe:

5 cups of cornflakes
1 cup of coconut
1/2 cup of brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup of sultanas 
1 cup of dates, chopped
1 cup of self raising flour
185 grams (6oz) butter
2 eggs

Combine cornflakes, coconut, sugar, sultanas, chopped dates and sifted flour, mix well.
Add the melted butter and lightly beaten eggs, mix well.
Take heaped tablespoons of the mixture, shape into rounds, press flat between the palms of your hand.
Place on a greased oven tray.
Bake in a moderate oven for 10mins or until golden brown. 
Cool on a wire rack.

Sounds yummy and almost healthy!!

Another Busy Day

However, today Monday, should have been quieter but we had nearly 500 shoeboxes in total with our collections and boxes we were able to make up ourselves. We have raised a good amount of money and we are very fortunate to have so many fillers. Our only problem at the moment is not having enough empty shoeboxes to fill. Our "wrappers" can't keep up, what a fantastic problem to have!!

Even the filler team rocked up to the work stations, checked and made boxes up .



Special Guests and Old Friends

Henry Tyndale School, who are regular visitors came to visit today, they are great supporters of ours and always come to the warehouse, always a pleasure to see them all. 

Also Vera, came along. Vera (along with her daughter) were our treasurers up until 2011 and Vera is probably our oldest volunteer. Whilst she couldn't stay too long she did check some of the shoeboxes that came in today. 







We always get new people too and this year Richard and Maddie came along for the first time, they already knew some of the team but they felt really welcome and have been almost every day since. They've been a fantastic help, Thanks guys.  

Some Things Never Change


Whilst we are almost finished with our collections and checking shoeboxes we still manage to find some of the most fantastic and thoughtful things in the boxes.

 Jill found these beautifully knitted bags in four boxes.

Tomorrow
The container arrives tomorrow at 10am to be loaded taking the rest of our boxes and some of the boxes we have collected from the Esher warehouse off to Azerbaijan. If you can help with this loading or you simply want to watch the container being loaded, you are very welcome to come along.

Friday 29th …. All Change

All Change Today

Today was always going to be different… we had sent off our container to Kyrgyzstan with 8850 shoeboxes.

Now we are preparing for the Ukraine, we have a few collections of shoeboxes still to do which we will process and ensure they are the gift we strive for. To do that we need to keep by some of our fillers.

In addition the team are now deciding how we send our own shoeboxes off. We do raise a good deal of money from the sales table, teddy's name and other donations to send our own shoeboxes. For each £3.00 we get we can send a shoebox. This is a fine balance as we love to send our own boxes filled with love. However, we have still have to work to make sure shoeboxes that come into the warehouse are fair.

Then, all change!!! Our shoeboxes are not going to Ukraine by lorry but are going to Azerbaijan by container. How do we keep up with it all?

Can We Cope?
Yes, of course we can, all the principles are the same and our hearts are in it. We can switch as easy as pie. The thing we need to focus on is doing the best boxes, and we do. The container is being loaded at 10am on Tuesday. If you are strong and fit, come along to help. Loading should take about 2 hours, depending on how many helpers we have.


Hidden Team
Russ and Rose, not seen around too much this year. Rose has had a hip replacement but has not deserted us. Russ had been in daily to collect lots of individual toys and Rose has been making up bags of toys for us. Another good source of our fillers. Thanks to you both.







Thanks too to Roger Chandler, he is so quiet you may not have even noticed him sitting there wapping box after box. If you want to know how to wrap a shoebox ask Roger. Roger also makes sure we have tables and chairs. Most we do borrow but the rest has to be hired. Roger also orders our heaters and gas, you can thank him for being warm, so he's an important member of the team. Great job Roger, thanks.  



Back to "Our" Shoeboxes

Up to today we have raised enough money to make 300 boxes. Its £3.00 a box remember so this equals £900.00 raised from the sales table, ted's name, cards, sponsored boxes, Well done everyone who took part whatever way you contributed it all adds up and it's all so, so important. 

Euro Star Bid
Today we finished the Eurostar silent auction. We had 6 bids in total and the two highest bidders were Gill Tilburn and Andrew Piercey who will each receive 2 standard return Eurostar tickets to Paris or Brussels. This raised a total of £188.47, that is 62 more shoeboxes that can now be sent, providing we still have enough fillers. 



Teddy's Name, It's a Girl!
The other thing we did today was to reveal Ted's name and this year Ted is a girl. Her names are Charlotte, Amber, Freddie(?) and the winners were Linda Seabrook, Michael Grew and Sue Hockey. As the overall winner wasn't there Vanessa was happy to sit with Ted while she had her photo taken. Vanessa made the clothes for Ted and put a nice frill on the top plus a knitted rose on her jumper.




And More Visitors

Perhaps not such a quiet day... after making up all those boxes and starting to tidy up ready to move out, we also had visitors.  The Wavell School, Farnborough have been great supporters of OCC for a few years and are one of our champion shoebox donors, this year they did nearly 350 boxes and it's the pupils who drive the initiative. That's a fantastic achievement. However they have never visited us! Friday afternoon they did come and see us, they had a tour and really enjoyed it. 

Calm After Yesterday

Still on a High
It was somewhat quieter in the warehouse today, a time to get a few other jobs done. Everyone agreed that yesterday was a very special day in the warehouse, it is where everything we do comes together. Apart from The Mayor visiting us we also had some employees from Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency spending the day with us. We really enjoyed having them and they worked so hard too, especially when it came to loading our container. 
The feedback from them was they really enjoyed their day, they felt inspired by our operation and they still ache today after lifting all those cartons. We hope they come back as they were a great bunch.

The AHVLA Group

Beautiful Things Still Appearing in our Boxes.

Today we found a beautiful handmade card, it was made with hundreds of small glittery pieces to make a very special Christmas card. This will be treasured by the child who receives it, they would never have seen such bright, sparkling things like this before.

In Jenny's shoebox she was checking she found all of the G.I.F.T.S. but at the bottom of the box all tucked up as if in bed was a beautiful doll with extra sets of clothes we all said a big "Ahhhhh" to that one!  

Naturally we do find some odd items too, a pair of men's shoes for one. We still don't know whether they should have been there and do keep wondering if someone is turning their house upside down in search of them.

Another thing we found were some rusty pegs and strangest of all a clove of garlic! 

Any Room on Top of Your Christmas Tree?

There was a delightful, wand waving person wandering around today, a bit confused with the sheriff's badge on but really useful as all the rubbish disappeared at the wave of that wand. Each table was cleared of the rubbish when Malcolm passed by.  The head gear was particularly attractive.

A Special Day

A VERY Special Day, it's Wednesday 27th November.

When did we start? Two weeks ago. So much has happened in that time. Today was one of those special days that brings everything we all do together.  It also brings all the people together who make this happen.

The container arrives and is packed up 

The feeling at the warehouse today was tangible, we are all there because we love what we do, we believe in it and know the joy it brings to the children who receive the gifts and those around them. Not forgetting the communities here who make all the fillers.
However, all this needs to come together and today is just one of those days. We had lots of our volunteers here today to see our container off. 8850 shoeboxes were loaded onto the container which could hardly get into the warehouse.
How exciting it is when the container arrives, checking it out, getting it into position then loading it.

The Last Box Goes in and the Cheer Goes Up

The driver was amazed how quickly we loaded it and load it we did.
In the normal OCC manner not a spare inch between the cartons could be seen.
Once loaded there was a photo call. Oh yes and why shouldn't we ALL be proud of ourselves. Smiling with joy and (lets be honest) lots of us with a tear in our eye and a lump of pride in our throats.

Then we waved goodbye and even the driver felt emotional knowing of the load and where it was off to.



 Yes The Team 

All the team with the message "Shoeboxes sent to Kyrgyzstan with love from Guildford"               

We Did It

Neither Heather nor Jenny are keen on blowing their own trumpets but today they did feel very proud that everything had worked out well, they are also very proud to be able to lead such a fantastic team who really do "make it happen".

Mayor's Visit

Seeing all this happen was our Mayor who arrived at exactly the right time and brought over 90 shoeboxes from her office. We have enjoyed the Mayor's support for a number of years and this year was especially important as it was the Mayor who got us our fantastic warehouse.

Over 90 shoeboxes from the Mayor's Office

The Mayor, once again enjoyed her visit and spent far more time than planned, which we love, we want people who visit to be totally inspired with what goes on. This year the Mayor was helping load the container, we did offer an empty carton which is very light for her to pose with but no way, she insisted on a full one.

On top of all that we had other visitors - schools, a group from DEFRA who came to spend a day with us, Rev Peter Levell who came to bless the boxes at the start of their journey, the Surrey Advertiser (watch this space we may be featured in next week's edition). Each and every person left the warehouse inspired and promising to return.

Jenny, The Mayor and Heather 

The Mayor helped out

We suggested an empty carton to pose with but The Mayor insisted on a full carton and did take it to the container to be loaded. Very hands on.

Crafts Galore

The Crafts Just Keep on Coming

Bethany has made a dragon hand puppet

We are constantly amazed at the generosity of our volunteers, we are also amazed at the variety of things that they make and the talent involved.
First you have to think of an idea and it's clear we have people with plenty of those, then they have to put that idea into action……. and they do here are some examples

Sue is holding three beautiful dolls but what makes them extra special is the clothes that have been lovingly knitted for them.

Michael's hand made wooden toys 

Home Made Jam

 Not everything goes into a shoebox. Dot's home made jam was a hit and helped us raise just over £58.00 and Michael's handmade wooden toys have been selling like hot cakes.


Collecting Fillers is Good for Your Eyesight 

Brats dolls once abandoned at a car boot sale

Yes, it's true! Those of us who go to the sales or trawl car boot sales can spot a bargain, a Barbie or Brats Doll or soft toy in an instant…. and at a good distance too.
Even if it is tucked away out of sight, at the back of the shelf or under a table, it will not get past any of our beedy eyed volunteers. If it's there they will spot it.  As you can see these Brats Dolls who were stuffed away, unwanted in an old box were rescued from a fate worse than death at a car boot sale. Now they are dressed, have a spare set of clothes and have been repackaged and ready to be loved once again.

What else doesn't get past us? Value toothpaste and soap, the main supermarkets do try and hide it away on the bottom shelf but we know where it is, even if its stuffed at the back, we'll find it. So if you see someone on their hands and knees at the soap or toothpaste section, say "hello" as you will be sure to recognise them when they look up.

Support and Generosity

It's never ending, we could not do it without everyone who supports us and donates so much. Once in a while we are overwhelmed. One person who has given so much is Annie Hardie from Charterhouse School. Annie has lent us almost all the tables and chairs, this has saved us a fortune, we normally have to hire them and as you can imagine this adds up to quite a sum. Then she heard we had no water so when we arrived at the warehouse on the first Tuesday morning, there were litres of water on the doorstep for us with some foam cups so we could have a hot drink. Who was thoughtful enough to do that? Yes Annie. We are still using the containers for the water as we have to get the water from another floor. 
Then the school makes shoeboxes for us and today Annie brought in a trolley load of fillers, which is not the first lot she had given us. Now she is talking about what she can do to help us next year. 
A huge support for us… Thank you Annie.

Look After the Pennies Penny Person

…… and the pounds will look after themselves. We are familiar with some sayings which include the word Penny.
Spend a penny, pennies from Heaven, Penny Lane, penny for your thoughts and of course Penny Rickman, Penny is one of our admin people, she ensures the signing on sheets are always there as well  as the registration forms. Then she gathers all these up and puts them into alphabetical order for us, this is whilst also doing training, she is a bundle of energy and a great member of the team.

Penny is writing out a thank you certificate for Holy Trinity Church of Lyne and Longcross.



And have you heard of Penny Person? This is a unique way Fairland's Junior School used to raise  money for their shoeboxes. A pupil lies on the floor, they draw around them and fill the outline with pennies….. very clever!!

This is the first year they have done shoeboxes and turned it into a fun and enjoyable experience.













More of The Team
Behind the scenes are our treasurers, our unsung heros. All throughout the day we collect the money from each table that you have extracted from the boxes. This gets collected at the end of each day by Sue and Colin who then go and count all the day's donations. It is a mammoth task as on the busy days it has been over £3,000. When you think much of this is coins you will then realise how long it takes. They do have some support from Sue Edgington  too who is the deputy.  

Far Away but Still in our Hearts
Yes, a familiar face from New Zealand, Carolyn emailed us to say she is enjoying the blog, having a good time away, she sends her love to everyone and she says she is missing us, we miss her too. 

The Mayor's Visit
Whilst things have quietened down a little this week after the collections peak last week, we still will be working this week but we may have to reduce the hours a little with the exception of Wednesday…. we have our container arriving at 10am which will need to be loaded and the Mayor's visit at 3 o'clock so a busy day.
Please don't park that day in the enclosed car park right behind the building as a large vehicle will need to get in. There is plenty of parking outside of the enclosed car park near the other units. We are able to park all the way along the wire fence. 

Tomorrow
We have some boxes on hand which we have kept over from today, so anyone arriving tomorrow morning will have boxes to check. We will have some more collections arriving later in the day though it is likely we will finish early again tomorrow. Have a rest in preparation for the container coming on Wed!