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.