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!

How Many People Does it Take….

…… To Make All This Happen

Volunteer Numbers….
These are up again this year, it's wonderful that so many people return year after year, it's also wonderful that we have so many new faces too. It's seems once someone comes they find the whole experience rewarding and worthwhile. Not only do they give up their time to help but also support all the functions that make it all come together. For example the fillers, they don't just appear, people work all year making items and seeking out the bargains in the shops. And when we run out of things people rush to the shops to top up our supplies. Toothpaste and soap are a good example - all the major supermarkets in most of Surrey, Hampshire and some of Berkshire have completely sold out of their value range. So if you are out shopping over this weekend for these items you will have to go further afield to get them!!


Box Numbers 
By Friday morning we had received just over 9,000 shoeboxes, enough to fill a container. Therefore one has been ordered and will arrive on Wednesday morning. If you have been here before when the container has been filled and sent off it is a very moving moment. After working all year collecting items, making shoeboxes, encouraging others to do them, arranging the warehouse, collecting, processing and then packing them into cartons, it's time to put them into the container and send them off with a blessing on their long journey to Kyrgyzstan to meet all those children.
So if you are free on Wednesday and feeling fit please do come along and if you have anyone you know who is active and strong please do invite them to help us…it's a big job!!

All Sorts of Jobs
Some people are not too keen on checking the shoeboxes, but never fear there are many, many jobs, ones to suit everyone. Here is Stan the Trolley Man. Stan would prefer to collect the shoeboxes ready for packing so he pops round and collects them in the trolley and puts them out for packing. Thanks Stan.
















It Doesn't Just Happen in the Warehouse


There are far too many people to highlight individually, but we do thank you all. Here we have a super example of the ever popular hand puppets, these one were made by Judy Webb and her friend Hilda. Thanks to you both.

Another huge supporter of ours is Liz Grilli, Liz's congregation at Send Evangelical Church do  shoeboxes and crafts to go in them 

St Paul's Church in Camberley had 191 shoeboxes to be collected, the ladies there helped Dee load up the van. Looks like they were able to get the Go Boxes too. Another Thanks to all at St Paul's.





This Weekend

We had to send people home early this afternoon (Friday) as we needed to save some of the shoeboxes for people coming in on Saturday. This means we won't have many shoeboxes to process until lunch time on Monday when the collections come in. You are welcome to come into the warehouse and help us wrap boxes, wrap soap, sharpen pencils and do all those other little jobs that need done, but if you don't want to do that why not have a lie in or catch up with those odd jobs at home?

Facebook

NEW! Join us on Facebook…. go to Operation Christmas Child Guildford Facebook and spread the word about us to all your friends, far and wide… lets go viral.

Another Special Day

Every Day is Special

When you volunteer at the warehouse you come to realise that every day is very special, whether you are there all the time or just pop in on the odd occasion. Each and every day we process the shoeboxes. It's no wonder that each box is a magical experience when we open it and discover what gifts someone has chosen to give to a child so many miles away and who lives in a totally different world to theirs. There are some super gifts but also in some boxes there are letters, messages and photos that people have taken the trouble to put in the shoebox. 
It means a great deal to those who receive a shoebox to know where the gifts have come from and who sent them.

Of course our donors are all ages, it's not just children who have all the fun of making a shoebox. Written inside this shoebox is a message from a grandmother.

This shoebox came with a visual instruction on how to open it….












More of the Team
How do all those fillers get there? Well, Gill and her team ensure it happens… Gill is hiding at the back but Vanessa, Judy, Sue, Trish, Sue, Kate and Debbie in the front work very hard to keep those fillers flowing… Sadly Celia is missing today she does all the packets of sweets, we will catch her later in the week. 

And, Ian and Di who do all those tricky boxes which really need a bit of T.L.C. they are our experts in ensuring shoeboxes come up to a standard we can all be proud of.

Wednesday, Quiet Day…..

…. Well It Should Have Been….
You've guessed it, it wasn't. After so many lovely visitors, volunteers and GSK on Monday and Tuesday we thought today may be a little quieter. It wasn't! We had a huge number of our regular volunteers and loads of new ones came in to help too. This is such good news and we love it. It's great so many of you return year after year and also spread the word by introducing your friends. You introduce your friends because you love what you do and truly believe in it too.
Do you realise what you do? Every time you bring someone along they see what we do and the feeling behind it, yes they help us process the boxes but they also get hooked and do more shoeboxes themselves and encourage others to as well. Then there are the fillers, they understand the need for a consistent supply and help us meet the need, then encourage others to do it too….. it the circle of the shoebox volunteer.


Visitors
Lots this week so far ...and more to come. We love to welcome the schools who support us. These are some of our visitors. Firstly we have Ash Grange School

Hatch Ride School above

Cranleigh School above











Lastly but of course not least, Binsted School.

Thanks to you all for your contribution, for visiting us and for helping with the boxes.


Meet More of the Team 

Some of the drivers and packers. The drivers are headed up by Michael Grew and Gerard, who is our number cruncher, (ask him how many boxes and cartons we have processed) heads up the packing team. Sorry in advance if we don't capture you in the role you do, people are multi-skilled and not everyone can come in every day so getting a photo of you all is quite impossible. However that's how we work… people come in when they can so all the jobs get done throughout the week.


What Do You Do When You Reach Half a Century 50?

You get your friends to help you make 50 shoeboxes of course! Deborah Dawson, one of our drivers is 50 this year (don't tell her we know, we think it's a secret) but Deborah, in celebration, made 50 boxes, asking friends to donate towards the boxes instead of giving her a birthday present. Thanks Deborah, that's a great contribution. Just one other thing - most of can only wish we were that young!!!

SALES TABLE
Once again this year we have a sales table, which so far is going very well, this includes the hand made cards and sponsored boxes. We collect about £100 a week which enables us to either buy more supplies like toothpaste and soap or make up more shoeboxes. For every shoebox we do we also need to provide the £3 donation to help with the transport. At the end of the day all the proceeds go to good use. 


Meet The Team
So many people make this fantastic three weeks work where we collect, process, pack and send off 1000's of boxes. So let us introduce some of them over the next few days. Firstly we have Heather and Jenny who have taken over from Carolyn. Helping them at the helm are Marianne and Maureen who were Carolyn's right hand people. With their experience and knowledge gained over the years both of them are invaluable to two new leaders. What would we do without them?



And the drivers…. and packers 
Every part of the process is a key part of what happens. Next are the drivers and packers, sorry if we
don't get everyone. Different days mean different people but everyone is valued equally. 

They are all such a key part, they know how to pack a carton and they know how to pack a van……

a fuller van you cannot get…. apparently you have to drive really slowly when you have shoeboxes on the top, maybe a bigger van next time. 


Our Numbers So Far
Again, today, for the second day GSK joined us, what a huge support and due to the record numbers of boxes we have received we did need the support. On Monday we were 32 boxes short of our all time record with 2014 in one day. So far we have received a massive 5122 and completed 365 cartons. Well done everyone, our worries of not getting enough shoeboxes are fading away. 
Bring on tomorrow….. 

Sunday, The Day of Rest

Well, not in the World of Shoeboxes.
After a very productive Saturday morning at the warehouse when we can welcome people who love to help us with the shoeboxes but cannot come throughout the week. We had over 40 helpers, thanks to them all. Sunday lots of churches collect their shoeboxes and this week was no exception. Stephen, Eleanor  and Jenny went along to St Michael's the Archangel Church, Aldershot. Jenny spoke about her trip to Kyrgyzstan and how the shoeboxes were so well received there. St Michael's collected nearly 200 shoeboxes, which the children brought up to the front of the church. After they were blessed there was a human chain all the way through the church, throughout the churchyard and into the road where the OCC van was parked. It was a fantastic sight and great fun, everyone joined in, adults and children alike.

Visitors Today
The Knit and Natter ladies from Farnham helped us for a short while this afternoon and it's always such a pleasure to see them, not only do they do knitting for us throughout the year they also come and check some of the shoeboxes. Thanks Ladies.

Also today we had some of the team from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). They have an Orange day where members of staff take a day out to work for a charity. We are so delighted that so many of them decided to come and support us. We hope they feel their time is worth while and leave us feeling inspired. Of course we mustn't forget that GSK also donate toothbrushes and toothpaste to us. We always seem to run out but with their ongoing support we can manage to ensure far more shoeboxes do go with the all important toothpaste and brush especially with those sweets. 




Potters Gate School
There are so many schools that help and here we have Potters Gate.  This year Potters Gate School, Farnham, asked the children either to bring in a box of their own or they asked each year to bring in various items from the GIFTS list, one year brought the toiletries, another the stationery etc.  Several Mums then had fun over coffee and delicious ginger cake making up the fillers into good boxes.  Maureen joined in and took her Kyrgyzstan photos along which has inspired some of the Mum's to get more involved next year.






Crafts.
We get hats, scarves, gloves, hand puppets knitted and donated to us, thanks to everyone who takes time to make all those things. We have shown you many things people have made over the time here but once in a while we come across something a little bit different and something quite special. 
Here we have a hand made pencil case, very unique, different and so well made.