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Thanks to your outstanding donations we were able to send 176,615 shoebox gifts to children in 12 countries across Eastern Europe and Africa as part of the 2023 Christmas Shoebox Appeal. For many of these children, this is the only gift they will have received this Christmas (or in their lives before).

Your Christmas Shoeboxes left from every corner of the country in November and December, loaded up by incredible volunteers! Have a look through the grid below to find out where your Christmas Shoebox has gone!

Psychotherapy is an often overlooked vital element of emergency response. In our partner’s centre in Moldova displaced Ukrainians have been offered counselling sessions for PTSD, art therapy sessions, children’s therapy and integration programmes.

I used to work as a lecturer at a Mechanical Engineering College before the conflict...It was difficult to comprehend why our peaceful Ukraine was torn apart, and the emotional toll was immense. 

Team Hope’s Rwandan partners work with survivors or the 1995 genocide against the Tutsi people. Our most recent project with them aims to improve the income capacity of residents in Kabagali. The project is called “The Kabagali Pineapple Project”! And as you might guess, involves growing a lot of pineapples!

Our most recent project in Kenya is working in an area inhabited by the Kamba community. 50% of the community is made up of children and most families eat what they grown in their own gardens. But the land there is dry and the rain is unreliable so food is not plentiful and children’s health suffers because of the lack of nutrition, clean drinking water and sanitation.

We are hoping to start a Christmas Shoebox Appeal checking centre team in Athlone! We are looking for local volunteer coordinators to help lead a team of volunteers to make the Christmas Shoebox Appeal happen!

Thank you – behind every box is a child who you have helped make smile. Read our full THANK YOU here.

Last year, with your help, we sent a phenomenal 173,563 thank you's! Christmas Shoebox gifts to children across 12 countries in Eastern Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa. Here you can read the stories from some of the children, see how much your Christmas Shoebox gift really meant to them and how it brought joy, happiness and hope to their lives.