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.